Here is a bit of a haze surrounding former army chief raheel
sharif’s appointment to lead a
39-nation islamic military alliance, with different government officials taking different positions

naeem BukHari
ConCludes Pti’s Case
STORY ON PAGE 03

Former CJP reFused to
sign musHarraF’s PCo

Raheel has not
Requested noC
foR joining
islamiC militaRy
allianCe:
Kh asif
on the issue.
defence minister khwaja asif first confirmed his appointment, which was subsequently denied by Pm’s adviser on
foreign affairs sartaj aziz.
the senate was informed on tuesday
by defence minister khawaja asif that former army Chief general (retd) raheel

Stepney back
in the trunk

governor sindh
saeed-uz-zaman
siddiqui dies

no single,
CleaR statement
fRom Cabinet
ministeRs

News Desk

Panama hearings

STORY ON PAGE 04

sharif had not requested for an noC pertaining to appointment to the military alliance. Prime minister’s advisor on Foreign
affairs sartaz aziz said the former army
chief had not been offered any post by
saudi arabia to the alliance.

WeLL, iS he ON BOArd Or NOT?
ContInueD froM pAge 01
Speaking in the Senate, Khawaja Asif
said, “The Ministry of Defense issues
NOC to retired military officials, however, General Raheel Sharif has not yet
requested the ministry for an NOC or
clearance”.
“Gen (retd) Raheel Sharif did not
submit any application for a no objection certificate (NOC). There’s nothing
in our notice,” the defence minister said
in response to Senate chairman Raza
Rabbani’s request for a clarification on
the matter.
“General Sharif went to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage, on an invitation extended to him. He had informed about
this,” Asif said, adding that former
COAS is back from Umrah.
“He (Sharif) has neither requested
the Ministry of Defense nor the GHQ
after having returned to the country.”
General Sharif has also not informed
whether he has been offered the post.
He added that existing rules will

also be changed pertaining to taking up
a foreign job.
Earlier, on January 6th, it was
Khawaja Asif who had confirmed speculations regarding the appointment of
the former army chief to the aforementioned job. This was met by spirited
criticism from certain quarters.
Reacting to the noise, in his reply in
the Senate, Advisor to PM on Foreign
Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, said the foreign
policy of the country cannot be impacted since nothing has yet been offered to the former Army chief.
On Monday, Senate Chairman Raza
Rabbani had asked the defence minister
to provide details of the army chief’s
appointment as the head the military alliance to fight terrorism.
“Whether Gen Sharif sought permission prior to taking up the job or was
an NoC issued to him?” Rabbani had
asked. “And, if an NOC was issued,
then who issued it?”
Senator Farhatullah Babar intervened in the debate and said that any

Minister of State
for Information,
Broadcasting and
National Heritage
Marriyum Aurangzeb
said on Wednesday that
those setting their own ‘courts’ outside
courts will get nothing except disappointment. Talking to media persons here, the
minister said she was wondering what
Imran Khan would do after the Panama Papers case as his politics was at stake. The
minister congratulated the residents of the
federal capital on prime minister’s gift of
200 buses for schools and colleges under
PM’s Education Reform Programme. To a
question, Marriyum said that 200 buses
being handed over to various schools and
colleges would resolve transport problem
of the students, especially for the girls of
rural areas of Islamabad educational institutions. “Congratulations to Imran Khan as
well as one more ribbon was cut today. In
future too such ribbons will be cut for public welfare and development projects”, the
minister said. She said the PTI leadership
still had time to mend its ways and work
for fulfilling its promises made with the
KP masses. She remarked that Imran’s
party had made promises with the masses
of KPK at the time of elections but none of
them had been fulfilled. “Imran should get
ready for the accountability of the electorate as he cannot run away from the
court of masses,” she added. PTI won’t get
what it wants: PML-N Minister of State for
Information Technology Anusha Rahman
said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chief
Imran Khan does not want to prove anything in the court but only to pressurize it
for the decision according to their wishes.

Nisar for expediting
anti-drug drive

possible move by the retired Pakistani
general to head a Saudi-led army will
be detrimental to a resolution passed by
Parliament last year advising Pakistan
not to become part of the Middle East
conflict. Defence analyst General (retd)
Amjad Shoaib, speaking to a private
news channel, cited Raheel Sharif as
saying that the ex-general was “disappointed at remarks hurled on his heading the Saudi military alliance.” He said
Sharif was disappointed at people issuing statements without being cognizant
on the matter.
Amjad Shoaib also revealed that
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had given
approval after Saudi authorities expressed their desire to appoint General
(retd) Raheel as the chief of the military
alliance.
The former military officer revealed
that General (retd) Raheel set three conditions for taking up the new job that
are as followed:
1)
To include Iran in the military
alliance so that the organisation doesn’t

look sectarian in nature.
2)
He’ll not work under anyone’s command.
3)
He’ll have the mandate to act
as an arbitrator if there is a need to promote harmony among Muslim countries.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had said
Monday that any decision regarding appointment of General (retd) Raheel
Sharif as head of Saudi-led Islamic military alliance would be taken in accordance with the Constitution and in the
larger national interest.
Dar, while talking to a private news
channel, disclosed that Saudi Arabia
was keen to appoint Raheel Sharif as
head of the Islamic military alliance
even prior to his retirement.
“Both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
and General Raheel Sharif had a consensus view that it will be a conflict of
interests. It would have been inappropriate to head the 39-nation NATO-type
Islamic alliance while still serving as
head of Pakistan’s armed forces,” he
had said.

NAB authorises multiple inquiries
ISLAMABAD
APP

An executive board meeting of the
National Accountability Bureau
(NAB) held on Wednesday decided
to authorise investigations against
Evacuee Trust Property Board
(ETPB) Ex-Chairman Asif Hashmi,
and the managements of the ETPB
and the Model Educational Institutions Foundation (PMEIF).
The accused are suspected approving over 700 illegal appointments. Another decision taken by the
meeting was to authorise four inquiries.
One inquiry was authorised
against the management of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science
and Technology Lahore Sub Campus
and its former vice-chancellor Dr
Zafar Iqbal. Both parties are accused
of establishing the Lahore sub-campus in violation of rules and regula-

tions and collecting a huge amount
of money from students.
Another inquiry was authorised
against officials of the Allama Iqbal
Open University (AIOU) and others.
In this case, the parties are accused
of misuse of authority and financial
embezzlement of millions of rupees.
A third inquiry was authorised
against Umair Steel Industries (Pvt)
Ltd, Lahore. In this case, the party
is accused of a willful loan default of
Rs 42.59 million, referred by the
State Bank of Pakistan.
The fourth inquiry was authorised against Bakht Zada Khan and
others, for a suspicious transition report (STR).
The meeting also decided to reauthorize two other inquiries.
An inquiry was re-authorized
against Abdul Wali Khan University
Vice Chancellor Dr Ehsan and others
for misappropriation Rs 1,176 million allocated for scholarships.

The second re-authorized inquiry was against officials of Sheladia Associates and others regarding
corruption of Rs 355.53 million in
the construction of Barang Road in
FATA. The meeting decided to close
six inquiries against former federal
minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, officials of the Civil Aviation Authority, officials of BISP and others,
former forestry secretary Waseem
Ahmed Ursani and others, officials
of the revenue department, forest department and others, and former federal board of revenue member
Shahid Hussain Jatoi and others.
An investigation against officials
of the National Highway Authority
was also closed due to lack of incriminating evidence.
The meeting also rejected the
plea bargain request of Seth Nisar
Ahmad s/o Muhammad Latif (Accountability Court Reference No.
69/2007).

Spain govt accepts responsibility for 2003 military plane crash
MADRID: Spain’s defence ministry
took political responsibility for the
first time on Wednesday for a 2003
air accident which killed 62 Spanish
soldiers as they were returning from
Afghanistan. “There are reparations
that are not economic, which have to
do with recognition,” Defence Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal told
radio Cadena Cope a day after she
met family members of the victims.

62 Spanish soldiers and 13
Ukrainian and Belarusian crew were
killed on May 26, 2003 when a
Russian-built Yak-42 bringing them
back from Afghanistan crashed in a
mountainous area of northeast
Turkey. The defence ministry had
chartered the plane from a Ukrainian
firm despite warnings from military
authorities that it was in poor shape.
The accident was followed by a

scandal over the misidentification of
the bodies of 30 of the soldiers,
which had been delivered to the
wrong families.
Three Spanish military officers received jail terms in 2009 for having
misidentified the bodies. The crash
and subsequent misidentification
scandal hurt the popularity of the then
conservative government of Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar. AGENCIES

The attached department of Ministry of
Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource
Development and Overseas Employment
Corporation (OEC) would send medical
doctors to Saudi Arabia this month.
Talking to the news agency here Wednesday, OEC Managing Director Perveez
Ahmed Janjua said that OEC will organise
walk-in interview for the selection of consultants, specialists and resident doctors for
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of
Health on January 14 to 15 in Karachi.
A delegation of Ministry of Health will
visit Pakistan in this regard. They required
doctors for different regions, including
Asir, Baha and Bisha region.
They required the services of doctors as
consultant, specialists and resident in internal medicine, paediatric, general surgery,
orthopaedic, family medicine, anaesthesia,
radiology and others.
To a question, he said that salary and other
terms and conditions will be settled at the
time of interview.

NAB committed to
eradicating
corruption: Chairman
ISLAMABAD
ONlINE

“Corruption is one of the greatest challenges of the modern era,” NAB Chairman
Qamar Zaman Chaudhary said while addressing a ceremony at the Pak Secretariat,
Islamabad, on Wednesday. He quoted
Quaid-e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
who said: “One of the biggest curses is
bribery and corruption. That really is a poison. We must put it down with an iron
hand”. “The NAB is essentially a complaint-driven organisation which was established to eradicate corruption and it has
adopted a proactive approach to curb corruption in the country. During the last 16
years it has received 326,694 complaints
from individuals and private/public organisations,” the chairman said. During this period the NAB authorised 10,992 complaint
verifications, 7,303 inquiries, 3,648 investigations, and filed 2,667 corruption references in respective accountability courts
with an overall conviction rate of 76 percent.

LOC: Pakistan hands
over woman on
humanitarian grounds
ChInArI
ONlINE

Pakistan keen to strengthen ties with Kyrgyzstan: President
ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon
Hussain on Wednesday said that
Pakistan was keen to strengthen its
relations with Kyrgyzstan.
He was talking to the Kyrgyz
Minister for Economy and Co-Chairman of the Pakistan-Kyrgyzstan
Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC)
Kozhoshev Arzybek Orozbekovich,

who called on him along with a delegation at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, according to a press release issued here.
The president said that the government and people of Pakistan valued
their partnership with Kyrgyzstan.
“The CASA-1000 is an important energy project between the two countries,
and it will help in meeting our energy

requirements,” the president said. President Mamnoon said that Pakistan
wanted to promote regional connectivity and was actively promoting relations
in Asia. The president stated that increased cooperation between Pakistan
and Kyrgyzstan in the fields of transport, energy and commerce would be
helpful in alleviating poverty. APP

Pakistan has handed over elderly woman to
India on Humanitarian grounds at Chakoti
Ori Aman Bridge connecting both sides of
Line of Control (LoC). The 50 years old
woman had inadvertently crossed the Line
of Control (LoC) and came into Azad
Jammu and Kashmir area (AJK) on 20th
October 2016. The Pakistani Security
Force on Wednesday handed over her to
India on Humanitarian grounds, while the
civil and military officials of both the
countries were present on the occasion.

ISLAMABAD
APP

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan
Wednesday directed the district management to expedite the ongoing campaign
against drug usage in educational institutions. He said under a comprehensive strategy with the help of police and Anti
Narcotics Force (ANF), strict action would
be taken against those who push the young
generation towards this dark alley. He said
this anti narcotics drive which had been initiated from Quid-e-Azam University, would
be expanded to rural and other nearby areas
as well. “By launching awareness drive
against the usage of drugs with the help of
teachers, parents, students, civil society and
media, drug peddlers and drug mafia should
be brought to justice”, the minister directed.

PAKISTAN CALLS FOR RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES AT UN
Welcoming the new UN Secretary General’s pledge to make 2017 a year of
peace, Pakistan urged the 15 member
Security Council to resolve outstanding
international disputes.
Speaking in an open debate on the
Maintenance of International Peace &
Security, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the
UN Maleeha Lodhi said, “We welcome
and endorse the Secretary General’s call
to make 2017 a year of peace and assure
him of our full support and cooperation
to translate this resolve into reality.”
She said that the world was witness-

ing unprecedented human suffering
caused by conflicts and violent upheavals as entire regions were being
destabilized and millions of lives destroyed by long drawn out conflicts.
Ambassador Lodhi emphasized that
sustainable peace was a challenge and
could not be achieved unless the underlying causes of conflicts were addressed. These causes, she said,
included poverty, environmental degradation, political and economic injustice,
ethnic, tribal and religious tensions, and
external interference and intervention.

CMYK

“It also means addressing longstanding
political disputes”, she added.
The Pakistani envoy urged the need
for political, security and development
actors to support each other in striving
for sustainable peace. “It is a comprehensive activity requiring holistic, longterm
thinking
that
connects
development, peace and security and
human rights”, she said.
Highlighting the importance of political processes in building sustainable
peace, Ambassador Lodhi said, “All our
discussions from the past year have

brought forth the understanding that sustaining peace entails a political process.
It encompasses prevention of outbreak,
escalation, continuation and recurrence
of conflict”. Pakistan, Dr. Lodhi said,
believed that prevention should be taken
as a task to be shared by national governments and national stakeholders. She
said that inclusive dialogue, mediation,
accountable institutions, good governance, access to justice, gender equality
and youth participation all feed into the
processes of conflict prevention and ultimately sustainable peace. AGENCIES

ONCLUDING his arguments
in the Panamagate before a
five-judge larger bench of the
apex court on Wednesday,
counsel for the Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Naeem Bukhari,
pointed out inconsistencies between the
statements of Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif and his children, and called for
them to provide a record of the ownership
of the London flats from when a law regarding bearer certificates was passed in
2002 till the time they were transferred.
“We want the court to give a verdict
on disqualifying the prime minister,”
Bukhari demanded as he resumed his arguments. Justice Azmat Saeed Khosa remarked that going by Bukhari’s
definition, Maryam Nawaz was dependent on Hussain Nawaz. “Even now one
has to determine when the London flats
were bought,” he added.
When Justice Khosa remarked that
a ruling could not be based on newspaper clippings submitted as ‘evidence’,
the PTI counsel replied that the court
had ruled on the basis of newspaper
clippings in the past.
Interestingly, Bukhari, whose arguments spanned over five days (17
hours), had to take leave for an appointment with the doctor after he complained of pain in the back. After PTI’s
counsel, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, the
head of Awami Muslim League, took
the podium to argue his case.
Rasheed said that in order to hide
massive amount of money, specialists
were hired (by Sharifs).
“The court knows what is happening;
we are simply here to assist it. The Sharif
family is hiding behind the Qatari
prince’s letter. The prince is Rescue 1122
for the Sharifs,” he remarked as he compared the letter from the Qatari prince to
“a novel by Razia Butt”.
In his arguments, Rasheed also cited
the confession by Ishaq Dar of the money
laundering case and the award of Port
Qasim power plant and LNG contracts to
PM’s old aide Saifur Rehman.
With no prior experience of law
practice, Rasheed stood all alone without an entourage of assistants and
pleaded his case in Urdu before the
bench. During his arguments, Rashid
kept on taking digs at the Sharif family’s counsel. At one point, he said,
“Your lordships have read the case, but

the respondent’s counsel’s haven’t.”
While Rasheed hurried to conclude
his arguments, Justice Sheikh Azmat
Saeed advised him to have patience while
arguing. “I may look emotional, but I am
not,” he said when the justices pointed
out that he was being emotional.
Rasheed, who had come armed with
12 previous judgments of the SC where
punishments were awarded in the light of
Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution,
was rebuked several times by Justice
Khosa and asked to stick to telling the
title of the case when he tried to give running commentary of the cases. Furthermore, during his arguments, Rasheed
made ample use of the hadiths and examples of accountability from the lives of
the companions of the Prophet (PBUH).
“Nawaz Sharif should present himself before the court; he is no greater than
Hazrat Umer (RA),” he pleaded before
the bench.
Nevertheless, things didn’t go as
planned for the Jamaat-e-Islami as its
counsel Taufeeq Asif invited serious
queries from the bench. As soon Asif
started arguing, Justice Khosa remarked
that in their application, they (the JI) hadn’t made respondents those whose names
were in the Panama leaks.
When the counsel argued that the
court had previously ordered the formation of a commission, Justice Khosa cor-

rected him saying “the court had stated it
might form a commission if need be”.
Also, Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that the JI’s application was of
general nature and had very little that
was specific.
Upon this, the JI counsel sought permission for filing a new application, but

PtI says Panama case will be last nail in corruption’s coﬃn
ISLAMABAD
HAMID KHAN WAZIR
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran
Khan on Wednesday sounded upbeat as his party’s
counsel concluded his arguments in the Panamagate
before a Supreme Court bench. “It is of paramount
importance for the future of democracy and the
country that Panamagate investigation is taken to its
logical end,” Khan said during his meeting with a
delegation of the Supreme Court Bar Association at
the office of SCBA Secretary Altaf Bajwa. PTI Vice
Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Secretary
General Jahangir Khan Tareen and other party
leaders were also present on the occasion.
The PTI chief, during the meeting, said that the
Panama case would have great impact on the
country’s democracy and hence it was the need of
the hour to take the case to its logical conclusion.
Khan said the nation had pinned high hopes on the

judiciary and that was why all and sundry were
looking towards the judiciary for quick dispensation
of justice. The PTI chief rejected that he had waged
a war against corruption for the sake of his party,
adding that it was for the future of the country.
“The decision of the Panama case would have a far
reaching impact on the country’s history,” he went
on to add. Khan said that PTI’s counsel Naeem
Bukhari, who completed his arguments before the
Supreme Court bench on Wednesday, had pleaded
the case in an effective manner. He expressed the
optimism that justice would be done in the Panama
Papers case, saying his party’s legal team had
presented solid evidence before the bench.
Talking to media outside the Supreme Court,
PTI spokesperson Naeemul Haq said the
Panama Papers case would be last nail in the
coffin of corruption as all evidences and proofs
had been submitted to the apex court.
“The nation would not face any critical situation if

Schools to be made a place of best learning experience: PM
ISLAMABAD
APP

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on
Wednesday, while terming children
the country’s future, said the government was focusing on providing quality education and best facilities at
their learning places.
“With best educational reforms and
improved building infrastructure, we
want the children to get a conducive environment at their schools,” the prime
minister said in his address here at the
handing over fleet of 200 buses for the
schools of Islamabad under his Education Reforms Programme.
The prime minister said Islamabad would be made a model city in
terms of standard of education and
provision of facilities at schools.
“Schools should be a place where the
children could enjoy their learning experience in their quest for knowledge
and the government is working on the
same strategy,” he told the audience
comprising school students and teachers. Sharif said 422 buses would be
provided for the capital’s 422 schools,
and directed that next fleet of 200
buses be arranged at the earliest. He
said the provision of buses would fa-

Justice Aijaz Afzal Khan replied that he
did not need any permission for that.
Later, advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan
began his arguments on behalf of PM
Nawaz Sharif.
Makhdoom argued that the petitioners had prayed that the prime minister,
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Captain

Safdar, PM’s son-in-law, be disqualified
and they be made to pay tax, but they
(petitioners) had failed to point out from
which person tax should be collected.
He said the petitioners had prayed that
the names of PM and his family be put
on the Exit Control List (ECL), but their
counsel(s) didn’t even mention that
point during their arguments.
Justice Khosa told the PM’s counsel
that they could not scrutinise the entire
life of an individual. “We’ve told the PTI
to stay focussed on the London flats.
You’ve been made part of the case later,
maybe that’s why you are unaware of it,”
Justice Khosa remarked.
The counsel further argued that his
client’s name was nowhere in the
Panama Papers leaks. “The petitioner’s
counsel had tried to establish an impression that the whole family had collectively plundered. The petitioner had tried
to put the whole burden on the court’s
shoulders,” he went on to argue.
Scores of people, leaders of PMLN, PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami, including
Imran Khan, Jehangir Tarin, Shafqat
Mehmood,
Asad
Umer,
Shah
Mehmood Qureishi, Anusha Rehman,
Marriyum Aurangzeb, attended the
court proceedings. PM’s counsel
Makhdoom Ali Khan will continue his
arguments when the court resumes the
hearing today (Thursday).
In its remarks on Tuesday, the
Supreme Court had stated that it
could not investigate and then give
judgement like a trial court. “Disqualifying the prime minister over
mere assumption will set a dangerous
precedent,” the SC had stated.

PM Nawaz Sharif responded to the four questions.
The government is printing approximately Rs 1.5
to Rs 2 billion currency note on a daily basis while
it is getting loan from Rs 7 billion to Rs 9 billion
every day,” he said. Haq further said the
government was spending some Rs 42 billion on
the Orange Line Metro Train project (in Lahore).
“The economy of the country has been destroyed.”
He said the PTI had always opposed the
corruption, violence and injustices in the country
while treasury benches had always backed the
wrong things. Fawad Chaudhry, PTI’s focal person
on the Panamagate, said that “we would welcome
if Minister of State for Information Marriyum
Aurangzeb files a case against our chairman Imran
Khan”. He said that prince of Qatar had to provide
the evidence of his ownership of apartment, adding
that as many as 55 evidences were submitted in
the apex court. “PTI strongly believes in the
freedom of expression”, concluded Chaudhry.

cilitate the movement of students to
and from their schools and stressed
provision of buses to girl schools in
urban and rural areas on priority.
The premier also proposed construction of a bypass road at Bhara
Kahu in Islamabad’s suburbs to ease
the movement of students accessing
their schools in capital. He said improvement was being made in Islamabad’s streets with a focus on
cleanness, adding that Islamabad in
coming times would become one of
the world’s beautiful cities.
The prime minister handed over
keys of buses to students of different
schools and also cut a cake shaped as
the yellow school bus.

He inspected the bus and also
took a test ride along with children.
Earlier, State Minister for Capital
Administration and Development Division Tariq Fazal Chaudhry in his
speech said the Pakistan of 2018
would be much improved in terms of
education and health sectors as compared to previous years. Daughter of
Prime Minister Maryam Nawaz
Sharif said new schools would be
opened in capital this year.
She mentioned that besides improvement in physical infrastructure
of schools such as libraries and information technology laboratories, provision of quality education would be
ensured.

CMYK

After Tayyaba, the ten-year-old maid allegedly tortured by the wife of a serving
judge in Islamabad, was produced in the
Supreme Court, her case took a new turn.
During Wednesday’s hearing of the suo
motu case, a medical report of Tayyaba was
presented before the two-judge bench
headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP)
Saqib Nisar. The CJP remarked, “Thanks
God, the girl has been recovered. Only
Tayyaba can tell about the real facts. She
should not stay with her parents so that she
could record her statement without any fear.
We have to reach the truth. We will decide
the case speedily. DIG Islamabad should investigate the matter transparently and bring
the facts to fore. Progress in the case be informed on day-to-day basis.”
The accused and three couples who
claimed to be the girl’s parents also appeared
before the court.
Tayyaba’s alleged father, Azam, who removed her from a women’s shelter and forgave the judge and his wife following an

agreement, revealed in the court that the
agreement was fake. He also disowned any
settlement with the accused family.
He said he was illiterate and that his
thumb impression was taken on a plain
paper, on the basis of which the judge’s wife
had been granted bail in the case.
Upon this, the court ordered that the girl
be sent to Pakistan Sweet Homes (PSH) till
the determination of her real parents. The
three couples claiming Tayyaba’s ownership
also withdrew following the hearing. The
court directed police to file a comprehensive
report within 10 days, get her psychological
examination and provide adequate security.
She was found Sunday in the suburbs of
the capital and taken for a medical examination. The medical report confirmed she had
been tortured. She showed signs of torture as
a team of doctors observed multiple injuries,
burns, blunt injuries and bruises on her face.
“She has burn marks on her back and on
the left hand. She also has a blunt wound on
her face. All her wounds are healing,” doctors said. Meanwhile, the court ordered that
DNA report be filed before it the same day
when it was received.

04 NEWS 12-01-16_Layout 1 1/12/2017 1:16 AM Page 1

04 NEWS

Thursday, 12 January, 2017

Sindh governor Saeeduz-zaman paSSeS away
S
NeWs desK

INDH Governor Justice (retd)
Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, 79,
passed away on Wednesday, according to a spokesman of Governor House. The governor was
admitted to a private hospital just days
after taking oath. At the time it was reported that he was suffering from a chest
infection and breathing problems, however, the Governor House spokesman
had stressed that the ailment was not serious and that the governor was out of
danger.
His funeral prayer is scheduled for
Friday after the Jummah prayer.
Justice (retd) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui was appointed as the 31st governor
after it was decided to replace Dr Ishratul
Ebad Khan during a meeting between
President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif, a private channel
had reported earlier.
Zaman had served as the Chief Justice of Pakistan from July 1999 till December 2005. During the rule of former
dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf,
Zaman had refused to take oath under the
Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).
In 2008 he also ran as a presidential candidate from Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz.
SpEAkER SINdh ASSEmbLY
AppOINTEd ACTINg gOvERNOR: After the death of Saeed-uzZaman Siddiqui, Speaker Sindh
Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani will assume charge as acting Sindh Governor.
He will perform duties as Governor
Sindh till the appointment of the next
governor.
CONdOLENCE
mESSAgES
pOuR IN: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif

expressed deep grief over the sad demise
of Sindh governor.
The PM said the services of Justice
(R) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui in the field
of judiciary and upholding rule of law
would be remembered, a statement issued from the PM’s Office said.
“Justice (R) Saeed-uz-Zaman was an
upright and honest Judge who never
compromised on his principles and remained impartial in delivery of justice”,
he added.
President Mamnoon Hussain also expressed deep grief and sorrow over the
death.
In a statement, he prayed for eternal
peace for the departed soul and commiserated with the bereaved family. The
president said services of late Saeed-uzZaman Siddiqui for upholding rule of
law and supremacy of the Constitution
would always be remembered.
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz
Sharif expressed deep sense of grief and
sorrow over the death of Saeed-uzZaman Siddiqui.
In a condolence message, the chief
minister prayed that “may Allah
Almighty rest the departed soul in eternal
peace and grant courage and strength to
the members of the bereaved family to
bear the irreparable loss with fortitude.”
He paid tributes to the services of the
late governor for the nation and the country, and said that in his death, Pakistan
has been deprived of a patriotic personality. He said that late governor has rendered memorable services in his field and
his services will be remembered for a
long time.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad
Ali Shah also expressed grief and sorrow
over the death of Sindh governor
In a condolence message issued, the

At Hindu temple, PM Nawaz
reaches out to minorities
CHaKWal
aGeNCIes

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on
Wednesday inaugurated the restoration of an ancient Hindu temple complex in Punjab, a symbolic gesture
that may appeal to the Muslim nation’s minority communities and
soften the country’s image abroad.
However, the visit and other recent overtures to minority faiths and
women, including the passing of prowomen legislation, could also alienate powerful religious hardliners
opposed to social change.
Sharif’s visit to the 900-year-old
Katas Raj temple, one of the holiest
sites in South Asia for Hindus, comes
at a time when relations with Pakistan’s Hindu-majority neighbour
India are at a low ebb and show few
signs of improving.
“In my personal view, we are all
are equal - Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs,
Christians - and people belonging to
other religions; we are all one,”
Sharif told agencies after a Hindu ritual was performed at the temples, located in the village of Katas some 110
km south of the capital Islamabad.
He said the day is not far when
Pakistan will be recognised as a "mi-

norities-friendly country" due to steps
being undertaken to better the lives of
minority groups. Sharif said he is the
prime minister of everyone and "not
just Muslims" and instructed Evacuee
Trust Property Board (ETPB) Chairman Siddiqul Farooq to restore the
holy sites in the area to their original
state by renovating them.
At the ceremony, attended by senior Christian, Sikh and Hindu leaders,
Sharif chastised hardline Muslim
scholars who use “strange interpretations” of Islam to preach hate against
other religions.
ELECTIONS NEXT YEAR:
Political analysts say Sharif’s visit to
the Katas Raj temples was part of an
effort to reach out to minority groups
ahead of a general election scheduled
for 2018, and would also appeal to
more liberal, urban voters in Pakistan.
Non-Muslims make up only about
three per cent of the 190 million population, but they are clustered and
their votes could swing some seats in
the provinces of Punjab and Sindh.
Last month, Sharif renamed a
university in honour of Abdus
Salam, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who was shunned for decades as
he hailed from the small Ahmadiyya
community.

CM lauded the judicial services of the
late governor. He condoled with the family of the deceased and prayed for rest the
departed soul in eternal peace and grant
of courage to the bereaved family members with fortitude.
Murad has also announced one-day
mourning in the province.
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb Wednesday expressed deep grief
and sorrow over the sad demise of Sindh
governor Justice (retd) Saeed-uz ZamanSiddiqui.
The minister, in a statement, said his
services for upholding the rule of law and
supremacy of the constitution would be
remembered for a long time.
Pakistan Muslim League (PML)
President and former Prime Minister Ch
Shujaat Hussain, senior central leader
and former Deputy Prime Minister Ch
Parvez Elahi and Moonis Elahi have expressed their heartfelt grief and sorrow
over the demise of Governor Sindh Justice (retd) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui.
According to reports, Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar, PPP Central Information Secretary Maula Bux Chandio,
Asif Zardari and Arif Alvi also expressed
grief over the death of the governor.
FuRThER REACTIONS ON SOCIAL mEdIA: Pak Sarzameen Party
(PSP) Chief Syed Mustafa Kamal
tweeted: “Sad to hear about the demise
of Governor Sindh & Former CJ Saeed
uz Zaman Siddiqui. May Allah SWT
grant him the highest place in Jannah.”
“PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari expresses grief and sorrow over
the sad demise of Governor Sindh Saeed
U Zaman Sidiqi,” PPP’s media cell
tweeted.
Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq tweeted:
“Saddened to hear about the passing

Profile

Sindh Governor Justice (retd) Saeed-uz Zaman Siddiqui, who passed away on
Wednesday, took path as the Sindh governor on November 11. For nearly two
months of his governorship, Siddiqui remained ill most of the time.
Born to an educated, middle-class Urdu-speaking family on December 1, 1938,
Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui received his early education from Lucknow and then
from Dhaka, then East-Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh.
He passed Matriculation from the Board of Secondary Education from Dhaka,
East-Pakistan in 1952. In 1954, Siddiqui obtained intermediate in engineering
sciences from the University of Dacca. He then moved to Karachi and attended
Karachi University in 1954.
Here, at Karachi University, Siddiqui obtained B.A. in Philosophy and L.L.B in
1958. He began legal practice at the High Court of Sindh in 1960.
He was a prominent Pakistani jurist and legislator, who formerly served as the
Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Notably, Siddiqui served as the chief justice when former army chief General
(retd) Pervez Musharraf staged the 1999 military coup.
He defied Musharraf's request, which he gave via the then Law Minister and Legal
Adviser Sharifuddin Pirzada, to take a new oath under the Provisional
Constitutional Order (PCO) saying, "Taking an oath under the PCO, in my opinion,
will be a deviation from the oath I had taken to defend the constitution of 1973".
In 2008, he ran for the presidential election as a candidate of Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz and Jamaat-e-Islami to replace Pervez Musharraf as president,
but lost the September 6, 2008 presidential election to Asif Ali Zardari by 153
votes.
Justice Siddiqui was again picked for presidency in 2013, but at the last moment
his name was replaced with Mamnoon Hussain's as Siddiqui never joined the
PML-N and was a neutral candidate.
He was awarded honorary membership of the Judicial fraternity of Australia and
Canada after the news of his resignation from the office of the Chief Justice was
made public in Jan 2000, when he refused to take oath under the PCO.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif nominated Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui as Sindh
governor, after which he took oath on November 11, last year. He was the 31st
governor of Sindh.
Justice Siddiqui, however, passed away on Wednesday after nearly two months
of ailment, since he took oath as Sindh governor.

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah, while on an official visit to
Qatar, called on Chief of Staff Qatar
Armed Forces Lt Gen Ghanim Bin Shaheen Al Ghanim and Commander Qatar
Emiri Navy Maj Gen Mohammed Nasser
Al Mohannadi.
During the naval chief’s meeting with
Chief of Staff Qatar Armed Forces, matters
of defence ties and mutual collaboration
were discussed. The admiral highlighted
Pakistan’s commitment and performance
in fight against terrorism, including participation in Coalition Maritime Campaign
Plan (CMCP) and Counter Piracy Operations, as well as command of multinational
Task Forces 150 and 151. Gen Ghanim Bin
Shaheen lauded Pakistan’s efforts in promoting peace and security in the maritime
domain for freedom of seas and free flow
of the trade.
Upon his arrival at Qatar Emiri Naval
Forces Headquarters, the admiral was received by Commander Qatar Emiri Navy,
Maj Gen Mohammed Nasser Al Mohannadi. A ceremonial guard of honour was
also presented to the naval chief on the oc-

CMYK

casion. During the meeting, admiral Zakaullah dilated upon matters of mutual interest and bilateral naval collaboration.
Commander Qatar Emiri Navy also
acknowledged the significance of close
and strong bilateral naval association in diverse realms between Pakistan Navy and
Qatari Emiri Navy. Qatari Emiri Navy
chief, while lauding the professional acumen and commitment of Pakistan Navy
personnel, also looked forward to further

enhancing the interaction between both the
navies.
Later in the day, the naval chief met
with DG Coast Guard Brig Ali Al Bedeed
and visited Qatar Emiri Navy Ship Barzan.
The admiral was received by Qatar Emiri
Navy fleet commander and he was briefed
onboard by the commanding officer of the
ship. During his visit onboard, the naval
chief interacted with ship’s crew and appreciated their operational competence.

FOREIGN NEWS 05

Thursday, January 12, 2017

‘RUSSIa hacked RepUblIcan STaTe
caMpaIgnS bUT noT TRUMp’S’
WASHINGTON

R

AGENCIES

USSIA hacked into Republican state political campaigns and old email domains
of the Republican National Committee
but there is no evidence it successfully
penetrated President-elect Donald
Trump’s campaign, FBI Director James Comey said
on Tuesday. Comey also told lawmakers Russia did
not release information obtained from the state
campaigns or the old RNC email domains, comments that may buttress the US intelligence view
that Moscow tried to help Trump against Democrat
Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign.
US intelligence agencies on Friday released an
assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a covert effort to help Republican Trump’s
electoral chances by discrediting Clinton. The report,
which omitted classified details, was the US government’s starkest public description of what it says was
a Russian effort to manipulate the American electoral
process by leaking hacked emails from Democrats.
Russia has denied interfering in the election but
President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian suspected spies from the United States and imposed
sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies last
month in response to the allegations. Defence Secretary Ash Carter told a news conference on Tuesday
those penalties were “a start and not the end” of US
retaliation for the hacks, and senior officials have
suggested covert action may be taken.
Comey told lawmakers the Federal Bureau of In-

vestigation “did not develop any evidence that the
Trump campaign, or the current RNC, was successfully hacked.” He did not say whether Russia had
tried to hack Trump’s campaign.
Trump has disputed the accusations of Russian
cyber attacks during the election, but his incoming
chief of staff said on Sunday that the New York businessman accepts the US intelligence community’s
conclusions that Russia was responsible and that further action may be taken against Moscow.
SENATE HEARING: Comey declined to comment
on whether or not the FBI might be investigating
links between Russia and associates of Trump, who
frequently called during the campaign for improved
relations between Washington and Moscow.
The FBI director was pressed by Senator Ron
Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, to publicly provide a
declassified answer to the question before Jan. 20,
the day Trump will be inaugurated, but Comey suggested he would unable to do so. Comey appeared
before the Senate Intelligence Committee along with
the director of national intelligence, the head of the
Central Intelligence Agency and the chief of the National Security Agency at a time of controversy in
Washington about the 2016 election.
Testifying before Congress for the first time
since Trump beat Clinton on Nov. 8, Comey has been
criticised by Democrats for statements about a separate investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email
server as secretary of state.
The controversy over Russia’s alleged role in attempting to influence the election has roiled Washington, with Democratic lawmakers calling for an

Neo-Nazi extremist Breivik ‘trying to
spread his ideology from prison’

NORWAY: The Norwegian state, found guilty of treating mass
murderer Anders Behring Breivik “inhumanely” in prison, said
Wednesday his limited contact with the outside world was necessary because he is trying to spread his ideology from prison, including in dating adverts. On the second day of an appeals case into
Breivik’s prison conditions, Attorney General Fredrik Sejersted
told the court the right-wing extremist, who killed 77 people in
twin attacks in 2011, was following the script outlined in his 1,500page anti-immigration manifesto he published just before his
killing spree. “He has completed the active phase, and now he is
working on his project as an ideologist and a writer to create networks,” Sejersted said. “There is unfortunately reason to believe
that Breivik’s ideological project is unfolding as planned.” AGENCIES

independent commission to investigate the matter
and Republicans worried that the affair might call
into question the legitimacy of Trump’s victory.
Comey said there was evidence Russia hacked
Republican state-level political campaigns and “old”
email domains that the RNC was no longer using.
In contrast, Friday’s report assessed that Russian
military intelligence used intermediaries such as
WikiLeaks, DCLeaks.com and the Guccifer 2.0 “per-

sona” to release emails that it had acquired from the
Democratic National Committee and top Democrats
as part of the effort to help Trump and harm Clinton.
The DNC denied “multiple requests” made by
the FBI to examine its hacked servers, Comey said.
He added that his agents relied on a forensic analysis
conducted by the cyber security firm CrowdStrike,
which was hired by the DNC to help clean up the
hack when it was detected last spring.

5 Emiratis among 56 killed
in Afghanistan bombings
Five UAE officials were
among 56 people killed in a
string of bombings across
Afghan cities, authorities said
Wednesday, as Taliban militants step up a deadly winter
campaign of violence.
The Emiratis were among
13 people killed when explosives hidden in a sofa detonated inside the governor’s
compound in southern Kandahar on Tuesday, while the
UAE’s
ambassador
to
Afghanistan escaped the attack
with injuries.
Just hours before, twin Taliban blasts in Kabul tore
through employees exiting a
parliament annexe, which
houses the offices of lawmakers, killing at least 36 people
and wounding 80 others.
And earlier Tuesday, a Taliban suicide bomber killed

seven people in Lashkar Gah,
the capital of volatile Helmand
province, as the militants ramp
up nationwide attacks despite
the onset of winter, when fighting usually wanes.
The carnage underscores
growing
insecurity
in
Afghanistan, where US-backed
forces are struggling to combat
a resilient Taliban insurgency
as well as Al Qaeda and militant Islamic State (IS) group
fighters. Kandahar’s governor
Humayun Azizi and UAE
envoy Juma Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi were wounded
by flames from the explosion,
but many others were burned
beyond recognition, said
provincial police chief Abdul
Raziq, who was at the scene
when the blast occurred.
The Emirati officials killed
were “on a mission to carry out

humanitarian, educational and
development projects”, the
UAE’s official WAM news
agency said on Wednesday.
“This incident will in no
way affect the relations and cooperation between Afghanistan
and UAE,” President Ashraf
Ghani said, ordering an investigation into the bombing.
The Taliban denied responsibility for the Kandahar
attack, but they said they were
behind the Kabul blasts. In the
first explosion, a suicide
bomber blew himself up next
to a minibus transporting government employees. As rescuers reached the scene, a car
bomb exploded. Among the
36 dead were four policemen
who were killed in the second
explosion when they rushed to
help the victims of the first
blast. AGENCIES

BRITAIN SETS OUT LEGAL BASIS FOR DRONE KILLINGS
LONDON
AG EN CIES

Britain on Wednesday set out the
legal basis for drone strikes against
terror suspects overseas, saying new
technology meant some terror attacks
were developing too quickly for traditional law enforcement to react.
Attorney General Jeremy Wright,
the government´s top legal officer,
said international law must adapt to
“changing times” where social media
was used to inspire and train militants within a short space of time.
The government´s policy has
come under scrutiny since an unprecedented RAF drone attack killed
two Britons fighting with Daesh in
Syria in August 2015.
In a major speech, Wright will
set out how decisions are taken when
Britain can act in “self-defence”, including assessments of the immediacy, nature and probability of the
suspected attack.
“The situation we face today

does not always allow for the possibility of using criminal law enforcement measures to stop attacks,” he
will say, according to extracts of the
speech obtained by agencies.
“We are a long way from being
able to see troops massing on the
horizon. Technology has made it easier for terrorists to carry out attacks.
The law has to keep up with the
changing times.”
The likelihood that there will be
other opportunities to act that might
“cause less serious collateral injury,
loss or damage” is also a factor – an
acknowledgement of potential civilian deaths from drone strikes.
Former prime minister David
Cameron revealed the 2015 RAF
drone strikes in a speech to parliament, saying it was Britain’s first
such action in a country where it was
not involved in military operations.
British security services and
counter-terrorism forces say they
have foiled at least 10 attacks in
Britain in the past two years.

Thousands in
Myanmar flee
air strikes as
ethnic tensions
simmer
YANGON: More than 3,000 people
have fled air strikes and heavy fighting
in northern Myanmar since the weekend as the government tries to flush out
rebel positions, activists said on
Wednesday as the government blocked
a senior UN official from visiting the
area. Clashes between the army and
ethnic minority militias in Myanmar’s
borderlands have intensified in recent
months, undercutting Aung San Suu
Kyi’s vow to bring peace to the country
since her party took power in March.
Dozens have been killed and thousands
displaced since fresh fighting erupted
between the Myanmar military and the
ethnic minority Kachin Independence
Army (KIA) in November. The government prevented a UN official from visiting the area on Tuesday as waves of
people crossed the border into China to
escape the turmoil. The unrest has rippled across Shan and Kachin states,
threatening the next round of peace
talks between the government, military
and ethnic groups scheduled for February. Dashi Naw Lawn, secretary of the
Kachin Network Development Foundation, said the army launched air strikes
near the border town of Laiza on Tuesday.“There was a big fight yesterday
and the Myanmar army used planes to
attack the area around Laiza,” he said
on Wednesday. AGENCIES

US brands pro-Islamic
State Indonesian
group ‘terrorists’
JAKARTA: The United States named
Indonesia’s most prominent pro-Islamic State group a “terrorist” organisation, imposing sanctions on the
hundreds-strong network including
freezing its US assets. The State Department said in a statement on Tuesday that Jamaah Ansharut Daulah
(JAD) was a “specially designated
global terrorist” organisation, effectively allowing US authorities to block
its funding and banning Americans
from engaging with the group. AGENCIES

S President-elect Donald Trump said on
Wednesday that Russia had never tried
to sway his actions and furiously
blamed US intelligence agencies for
news reports that Moscow had compiled compromising information on him.
In a series of Twitter posts, Trump accused intelligence agencies of taking “one last shot” at him by
leaking the information. “Are we living in Nazi Germany?” he asked. Trump slammed as “fake news”
the reports that classified documents presented to him
last week by the heads of four US intelligence agencies included claims that Russian intelligence operatives have compromising information about him.
“Russia has never tried to use leverage over
me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!”
Trump wrote in one of the Twitter posts.
Trump, due to hold his first news conference
in nearly six months on Wednesday, pointed to the
Kremlin’s denials of the reports on the dossier that
emerged late on Tuesday.
“Russia just said the unverified report paid for by
political opponents is ‘A COMPLETE AND TOTAL
FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE.’ Very unfair!” he wrote on Twitter.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday it was “total
nonsense” that Russian officials had assembled a file
of compromising information on Trump.
Reince Priebus, who will be Trump’s White
House chief of staff, called the Russian dossier
report “phoney baloney garbage.” He told NBC’s
‘Today Show’ he had raised the matter with
Trump. “He said it was ‘total garbage and I’m
keeping it clean,’” Priebus said.

Even before the reports, Russia had been
likely to take centre stage during Trump’s first
formal session with reporters since he won the
November 8 presidential election.
The Republican president-elect has long said
he hopes to improve ties with Moscow, but this
effort will come under intense scrutiny after US
intelligence agencies concluded that Russia used
cyber attacks and other tactics to try to tilt the
presidential election in his favor over Democratic
candidate Hillary Clinton.
At the same time in Washington, Trump’s
nominee for secretary of state, former Exxon
Mobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, will likely
be grilled at his Senate confirmation hearing over
his long business relationship with Russian offi-

cials including President Vladimir Putin.
There was an unpredictable element to
Trump’s news conference, given his repeated criticism of the US news media and his belief that
many news organisations favoured Clinton in the
2016 presidential campaign.
Trump, a New York real estate developer, has
been under pressure to separate himself from his
global business operations to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest once he succeeds
President Barack Obama on January 20.
After initially declaring there was no law that
prohibited him from maintaining control of his
business while serving as president, Trump
switched gears in December and said legal documents were being crafted “which take me completely out of business operations.”
Trump has said his two adult sons, Donald
Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, will manage his businesses and no new deals will be done during his
time in office, but has offered few details.
He has not said he would divest from his companies, a step some ethics experts say he should
take. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, announced
plans on Monday to divest much of his own business holdings in preparation for taking a senior
advisory role in the White House.
While North Korea, Syria, Iran, China, tax reform and border security could well come up at
the news conference, questions about Russia are
likely to dominate the session.
Trump has faced persistent questions about
Russia throughout the past year given his reluctance to criticise Putin and his desire to improve
US relations with Moscow.
US intelligence chiefs briefed him on Russian
involvement in the election last Friday and he has
accepted the fact that it happened.

Ties with Saudi Arabia on the mend: Lebanon’s Aoun
RIYADH
AGENCIES

Lebanese president General Michel
Aoun said Beirut’s relations with Saudi
Arabia were recovering, a day after he
held talks with King Salman to repair
ties after a falling-out between the two
countries last year.
Saudi Arabia cancelled US$4 billion in military aid and downgraded
ties with Lebanon in February last
year, blaming Hezbollah’s domination
of the country when the government

failed to join other Arab states in condemning attacks by Iranian demonstrators on Saudi missions in Iran.
It has also warned Saudi nationals
to stay away from Lebanon, depriving
the country of vital tourism revenue.
Gen Aoun, on paper an ally of
Hezbollah, told the Saudi-owned
newspaper in an interview published
on Wednesday that Saudi tourists
would soon return to Lebanon.
Asked if his visit had turned a new
page in relations with Saudi Arabia,
Gen Aoun said: “Yes. When this tran-

sient era clears, we will be certain that
it had no roots from the Lebanese people’s side.”
“It is obvious that ties should be
normal, regardless of any differences
that may arise, or that may have arisen
in the past, in relation to the Syrian
file,” he added, referring to Hezbollah’s involvement the civil war in
neighbouring Syria.
The dispute has also cast a shadow
on hundreds of thousands of Lebanese
nationals living and working in Saudi
Arabia and other GCC states, who

transfer between $7 and $8 billion each
year in remittances.
Asked about the fate of Saudi aid
to the Lebanese army, Gen Aoun said:
“This issue will be discussed by the defence ministers of the two countries.”
Gen Aoun, who was in Qatar on
Wednesday on the second leg of his
first trip abroad since he was elected
in October, said Saudi Arabia has already decided to allow tourists back
to Lebanon, and that details were
being worked out between experts
from both sides.

China aircraft
carrier crosses
Taiwan Strait
amid tension
China’s only aircraft carrier has led several
warships across the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s
defence ministry said. The Liaoning was
returning from drills in the South China
Sea. It did not enter Taiwanese waters but
did cross its air defence identification zone
(ADIZ), the ministry said. It is the latest
escalation amid tensions between the two
neighbours, and Taiwanese authorities
have asked the public to remain calm. In
response, Taiwan scrambled jets and boats
to “surveil and control” the ships through
the 160km-wide (100 mile) Strait, Taiwan
defence ministry spokesman Chen Chungchi told agencies. China considers
self-governing Taiwan part of its territory,
to be reunited with the mainland by force
if necessary. Tensions have been high
since US President-elect Donald Trump
broke with long-standing diplomatic
protocol and took a congratulatory phone
call from Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen.
The head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs
Council, Chang Hsiao-Yueh, said the
authorities were monitoring China’s
actions and appealed for calm. AGENCIES

Bailed murder
suspect kills six
in Iran rampage
TEHRAN: A murder suspect freed on bail
killed six people, including a policeman
and three family members, in a shooting
rampage Wednesday in central Iran, media
reported. The 26-year-old entered two
houses in Arak and shot eight people with
a Kalashnikov, killing five of them
instantly, ISNA news agency quoted the
city’s prosecutor as saying. A sixth victim
later died in hospital and another was in
critical condition, he added. The first
house targeted was the home of a police
officer who had arrested the man last year
on charges of complicity in a murder. The
officer, his sister, mother and brother were
all killed while another family member was
hospitalised. The suspect then went to the
house of the victim, who he and two
others are accused of killing last year, and
shot dead his parents. Their son was also
injured. The shooter is still on the run but
his brother, who allegedly accompanied
him in the rampage, has been arrested,
the prosecutor said. The gunman had been
released on bail of two billion rials
($50,000) on January 1. AGENCIES

MOROCCO BANS PRODUCTION
AND SALE OF BURQAS OVER
SECURITY CONCERNS: REPORTS
RABAT
AGENCIES

Morocco has banned the production and sale of burqa fullface Muslim veils, apparently
for security reasons, media reports said Tuesday.
While there was no official
announcement by authorities in
the North African nation, the reports said the interior ministry
order would take effect this
week. “We have taken the step
of completely banning the import, manufacture and marketing of this garment in all the
cities and towns of the kingdom,” the Le360 news site
quoted a high-ranking interior
ministry official as saying.
It said the measure appeared to be motivated by security concerns, “since bandits
have repeatedly used this gar-

ment to perpetrate their crimes.”
Most women in Morocco prefer
the hijab headscarf that does not
cover the face.
In some commercial districts of Casablanca, the country’s economic capital, interior
ministry officials on Monday
conducted “awareness-raising
campaigns with traders to inform them of this new decision,” the Media 24 website
said. In Taroudant in southern
Morocco, authorities ordered
traders to stop making and selling burqas and to liquidate
their stock within 48 hours, the
reports said. Retailers in the
northern town of Ouislane
were said to have received similar instructions.
It was unclear if Morocco
plans to follow in the footsteps of
some European countries such as
France and Belgium where it is

illegal to wear full veils in public.
The reports were met with a
muted response in the absence of
official confirmation, though
Salafists expressed concern that
the measure could be expanded
to include the niqab.
Reactions: Hammad Kabbaj, a preacher who was barred
from standing in parliamentary
elections in October over his alleged ties to “extremism”, denounced
the
ban
as
“unacceptable”.
Oussama Boutaher, a coordinator that defends Islamist
prisoners, said the burqa ban
amounted to “discrimination”.
“This shows that we are
considered second-class citizens. It attacks individual freedoms even though Morocco has
signed a number of international protocols on human
rights,” he told agencies.

Germany sees massive drop in asylum seekers
Germany says 280,000 asylum seekers arrived
there in 2016, a drop of more than 600,000 on the
previous year. The German interior minister said
that the decrease was due to the closure in 2016
of the Balkan route and the migrant deal between
the EU and Turkey.
The record influx of 890,000 people came as
migrants and refugees travelled through Greece
and the Balkans. They headed for Germany after
Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered a temporary
open-door asylum policy. Her decision to suspend
EU rules on registering asylum seekers in the first

EU state they entered was aimed at the growing
number of Syrians fleeing the conflict in their
country, but large numbers of people of other nationalities made the journey too.
Migration has become a heavily politicised issue
in Germany ahead of federal elections in the autumn.
As voters punished her CDU party in regional polls
last year, Merkel acknowledged that the migrant crisis could have been handled better.
Germany has rejected asylum requests from Albania, describing it as a “safe country”, and has been
deporting Afghan arrivals. AGENCIES

Thursday, 12 January, 2017

WEATHER UPDATES
WEDNESDAY

110C

00C

THURSDAY

110C

-10C

FRIDAY

110C

10C

SATURDAY

100C 20C

ISLAMABAD 07

CDA InAUgURAtes COmplAInt
mAnAgement system
ISLAMABAD

m

STAFF rEPOrT

ETROPOLITAN Corporation Islamabad (MCI) and
Capital Development Authority (CDA) have introduced an effective and
efficient complaint management system to improve the quality of the public service delivery.
The newly established complaint
management system, headed by a chief
complaint officer, would help redress
the grievances of general public per-

taining to different formations of the
CDA and the MCI. A formal notification, in this regard, has been issued by
the member administration of the
CDA.
All formations of the CDA and the
MCI have been directed to extend
maximum possible assistance and relief to the public by taking immediate
necessary action on all the complaints
and queries and give their feedback on
the action to the complainant within
three days. Directors of all formations
have been notified as focal person of
their respective directorate.

Federal police to set
up service centres
to facilitate citizens
ISLAMABAD
ONLINE

Federal police has decided to set up Service
Centres (SC) to facilitate the citizens. The
citizens will be able to obtain copies of
FIRs from these centres besides benefiting
from other facilities. In the first phase, 2
SCs will be set up and training will be imparted to police inspectors. According to
police sources, 2 service centres will be set
up in sector H-8 and sector F-6. The citizens will be able to obtain copies of the
cases, FIRs, and other relevant documents.
These centres will be supervised in police
lines headquarters. In the first phase, all the
SHOs will be trained in public dealing. In
the second phase, training will be provided
to sub inspectors, ASIs and constables. If
these centres are proved beneficial then
more centres will also be established.

AIOU students to
get degrees on
fast-track basis
ISLAMABAD

Furthermore, all focal persons have
been directed to ensure close liaison
with chief complaint officer regarding
complaints’ responses and public
queries.
Moreover, the chief complaint officer has also been directed to generate
a monthly report regarding progress of
each directorate on the 3rd day of every
month to generate an efficiency index
of each directorate.
Member Administration of CDA,
Muhammad Yasir Peerzada has said
that on the directions of Mayor of Islamabad and Chairman CDA Sheikh

Multiplying initiatives under the umbrella of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the Sindh Engro Coal
Mining Company (SECMC) and
Wateen Telecom on Tuesday announced to make first ever Free WiFi zones in villages of Tharparkar,
Sindh.
The announcement was made by
SECMC CEO, Shamsudin Shaikh
and Wateen Telecom Chief Rizwan
Tiwana during a press conference
held in Green Park, Thar Block II of
Taulka Islamkot, Tharparkar.
Shaikh informed that in the first
phase, two villages, namely Tharyo
Halepoto and Senhri Dars is being

Need close interaction to meet
climate change issues: Rana Tanveer

Students of Allama Iqbal Open University
(AIOU) will get their academic degrees on
fast-track basis through a newly established
Help Desk, set up here at the University’s
Examination Department at its main campus. According to the controller examination, a separate call centre with universal
number (051-111112468) has also been established in the department to attend the requirements and complaints of the students
relating to their provisional certificates,
transcripts and degrees. For this purpose
five call attendants will be available on all
working days from 8 am to 4 pm. Both help
desk and the call centre will provide onewindow services to sort out and settle the
relevant matters relations to examination
and degrees.

Minister for Science and Technology Rana Tanveer Hussain said,
“Climate change is a four tier approach: prevention, assessment,
mitigation and rehabilitation,”
adding that the approach needed
close interaction among all the
stakeholders dealing with issues relating to the climate change.
Appreciating the PEC for holding the workshop on this important
issue, Rana Tanveer said the council

Dr Naeem Ali and his PhD student
Shomaila Sikandar Department of Microbiology, Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), in
collaboration with Dr Katrina Cornish at
Ohio State University, USA, have published
a USA patent on fungal treatment to enhance extractable rubber yield from plants.
The methodology of the present invention
would help enhance natural rubber yields
using fungal enzymes, a news release issued on Wednesday stated. It could also be
used in conjunction with presently known
conventional natural rubber extraction techniques to enhance their efficiencies. The
said innovative technique would help extraction of value added products from
plants’ residues. It can be used with minimal capital investment, and have greater
implications in tires and rubber manufacturing industrial units and agriculture sector.
This contribution would help create job opportunities in transport and related sectors
at a local and the international levels. Natural rubber cis-polyisoprene, with a molecular mass of 10,000 to 10 million g/mol, is
one of the world’s most important industrial
raw materials. Plant derived natural rubber
is used in over 50,000 different products.
There is a strong reliance on natural rubber
for the manufacture of these products, primarily because synthetic alternatives cannot
match the high-performance properties of
natural rubber required for many applications. High performance synthetic rubbers
also tend to be prohibitively expensive.

Renowned literary
figure Ibn-e-Insha
remembered

had not only excelled in promoting
the engineering profession in line
with the national requirements but it
had also made efforts to highlight
the most pressing issues like
scarcity of water resources in the
country.
He said impact of climate change
was the most crucial and obvious on
our lives as well as economy, adding
that Pakistan was amongst the most
vulnerable countries facing the climate change effects, especially on its
water resources.

“The government of Pakistan,
being a responsible member of international community, has been actively participating in international
endeavours to combat this global
issue and is a party to several international treaties,” the minister remarked.
Besides, Rana Tanveer said he
was confident that the PEC Think
Tank on Water what he called a ‘big
initiative’ would further integrate
the national efforts and response to
tackle the challenges.

Prominent Urdu poet, humorist, travelogue
writer and columnist Ibne Insha was remembered on his death anniversary on
Wednesday. Ibn-e-Insha’s real name was
Sher Muhammad Khan and he was born in
Jalandhar district of Indian Punjab in 1927.
He later migrated to Pakistan.
His poetry style was sophisticated and had
depth; but the cause of his popularity was
his humorous poetry and columns.
His most famous ghazal ‘Insha Ji Uttho’ is
a modern-day classic. Ibne Insha’s poetic
works are Chand Nagar and Dil-e-Wehshi
while travelogues are “Awara Gard Ki
Diary”, “Dunya Gol Hey”, “Ibn-e-Batoota
Kay Taaqub Main”, “Chaltay Ho To Cheen
Ko Chaliye” and “Nagri Nagri Phira
Musafir”. His humorous books are “Khumar-e-Gandum” and “Urdu Ki Aakhri Kitaab”. His collection of letters is titled
“Khat Insha Jee Kay”. Ibn-e-Insha died on
this day in 1978 and was laid to rest in
Karachi.

Poverty interlinked to poor brain
development among 250m children
ISLAMABAD
HAMID KHAN WAzIr

ONLINE

The Rawalpindi Medical College and Allied
Hospital Board of Management has stopped
the recruitment process on 87 vacant posts
in Benazir Bhutto Hospital and accorded an
approval to start this afresh. In this regard,
the board of management stopped the
process after several objections were raised
on this count in Benazir Bhutto Hospital
and ordered to restart the whole process.
Moreover, the board of management has directed the officials to complete all the development projects of three Allied hospitals
at earliest. The decision was taken in the
meeting held under Board of Management’s
Chairman Dr Mohammad Aslam. The
board also gave approval for the purchase
of MRI machines for Holy Family Hospital
and operation theatre equipments for the
Benazir Bhutto and District Headquarters
hospitals of the city.

comprehensive CSR plan for provision of quality education, state of art
health facilities and clean drinking
water facilities to the host communities with population of over 10,000
inhabitants,” Shamsudin Shaikh said.
“Provision of scholarship to deserving students and Thari Trainee
Engineers program is also an added
initiative for Thar Coal Block II residents,” Shaikh added.
Rizwan Tiwana was of the view
that they have gone extra mile to lay
a fibre optic cable for Thar Block II,
which was not an easy task, technically. He was of the view that Wateen
proudly owns a network of 25,000
kilometres of fibre optic cable across
Pakistan, which is being extended to
the far-flung areas of Tharparkar.

APP

APP

ISLAMABAD

RAWALPINDI

given the facility of free Wi-Fi at the
speed of 3MB. In the second phase,
he said all the schools of Thar Coal
Block II will be made free Wi-Fi
zones.
“We want to take children of our
host communities into the 21st century at par with children of urban
centres of the country,” said Shamsudin Shaikh.
SECMC CEO said they are
working on to making entire Thar
Block II as free Wi-Fi block in the
upcoming phase and ground work is
being prepared in this regard.
Responding to a question, the
CEO also said that the facility was
addition to the initiatives being taken
by SECMC under CSR.
“We are already implementing a

ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

BB Hospital’s
recruitment
process on halt

Anser Aziz, Administration Wing is focused on providing quality services in
the authority.
He said that main theme behind the
establishment of the effective and efficient complaint management system is
to improve service delivery and establish a mechanism which would help fix
lacunas present in the existing system.
He has directed the complaint officer to submit efficiency index of each
director based on monthly generated
report which would be kept in the personal record of the officer in Human
Resource Directorate.

QAU, Ohio University
researchers
publish patent on
fungal treatment

Nearly 250 million children in developing countries are at a risk of poor development due to stunting and poverty.
The startling revelations made in a
recent series in The Lancet, a UK medical journal, that around 250 million
children in developing countries only
are at a risk of poor development due to
stunting and poverty, besides the disadvantaged children living in middle and
high-income countries.
UNICEF urged governments to increase investments in early childhood,
expand health and social services offered to young children, and strengthen
support services for parents and caregivers, as investment in early childhood
is one of the most cost effective ways
of increasing the ability of all children
to reach their full potential.
UNICEF estimates that millions

more children are spending their formative years growing up in unsafe environments, putting their cognitive, social
and emotional development at risk.
In this regard, UNICEF launched
#EarlyMomentsMatter, a new campaign supported by the LEGO Foundation to drive increased awareness about
the importance of the first 1,000 days
of a child’s life and the impact of early
experiences on the development of the
brain.
During this critical window of opportunity, brain cells can make up to
1,000 new connections every second –
once in lifetime speed. These connections contribute to children’s brain function and learning, and lay the foundation
for their future health and happiness.
A lack of nurturing care – which includes adequate nutrition, stimulation,
love and protection from stress and violence – can impede the development
of these critical connections.

The campaign kicks off with #EatPlayLove – a digital and print initiative
aimed at parents and caregivers that
share the neuroscience on how babies’
brains develop. #EatPlayLove assets
explain the science in a straightforward,
visually interesting way to encourage
parents and caregivers to continue to
make the most of this unrivalled opportunity to provide their children with the
best possible start in life.
By engaging with families, the initiative also aims to drive demand for
quality, affordable early childhood development services and to urge governments to invest in programmes
targeting the most vulnerable children.
Investment in early childhood is
one of the most cost effective ways of
increasing the ability of all children to
reach their full potential – increasing
their ability to learn in school and, later,
their earning capacity as adults. This is
especially significant for children

growing up in poverty.
One 20-year study showed that disadvantaged children who participated
in quality early childhood development
programmes as toddlers went on to earn
up to 25 percent more as adults than
their peers who did not receive the
same support.
Early childhood development interventions, such as the Care for Child Development package that includes
training community health workers to
teach families about the importance of
playing with their children in a way that
stimulates healthy development can
cost as little as 50 cents per capita per
year, when combined with existing
health services.
This campaign is part of UNICEF’s
broader programme on early childhood
development, supported by H&M
Foundation, The Conrad N Hilton
Foundation, ALEX AND ANI, and
IKEA Foundation.

08 COMMENT

Thursday, 12 January, 2017

The Ten Commandments
for potential victims of
conniving ad-men

The incurable
Interior Minister
Never fails to surprise us, does he?

S

ELF-rIGHTEOUSnESS and a tendency to blame
others for his own shortcoming are Ch nisar’s
unfading birthmarks. Speaking in the Senate he
rebutted those who criticised him for failing to stop
major terrorist attacks or held him responsible for nonimplementation of nAP. He called the criticism a
negative propaganda against him, his Ministry and the
PML-n government. The task of the Interior Ministry
ended with sending alerts to the provinces. After that it
was for the provincial governments to take action
In order to defend the indefensible Ch nisar takes
recourse to curious notions. One such notion is that
impure things become kosher by changing their names.
According to him, when the terrorist Lej rechristened
itself into ASWJ, it became a sectarian outfit, even if it
had been banned. There was therefore nothing wrong on
the Interior Minster’s part to invite the banned outfit for
talks right inside Islamabad’s red Zone. He also stated
that sectarian violence had been continuing for 1,300
years. This implies that it should be taken as a norm.
The idea is not only a highly divisive but aalso a
justification for communal attacks. What is more it forgets
that tolerance of sectarian differences has been the
dominant factor in Muslim societies. The statement was
bound to cause an uproar and a walk out from the Senate.
Instead of answering the questions put to him about
recent disappearances of five liberal bloggers the
unrepentant interior minister maintained that unlike its
predecessors his government is not in the business of
disappearances. His ministry therefore cannot be held
responsible for such acts. At the best it can try to locate
those picked up. Since three of the five missing bloggers
were taken away from Lahore it is for the provincial
government to recover them. Unless every city of
Pakistan and its highways and unpaved tracks have
CCTV cameras installed, little can be done by the Interior
Minister alone because when people are removed from
the Safe City of Islamabad as Salman Haider was,
locating them is like finding a pin in a haystack.

A boon for exporters?
Can an incentive package alone
reverse the trend of decline?

B

ETTEr late than never, seems to be the government’s
watchword in matters of national importance and
the economy. So, three years down the line, and a
little more than an year before the elections, the PM has
thought fit to announce a generous package of incentives
in a bid to boost the country’s continually falling
exports, now down to $ 20.8 billion from $24.5 billion
in 2012-13. Quality was never a factor, as our finished
products easily compete with the world’s best, in
textiles, finished leather and garments, sports goods and
surgical items. The spanner in the works was - and still
remains - the high cost of doing business and a
regular availability and quality of electricity and gas for
industries. Coupled with political instability and
uncertainty - which can suddenly close down business
activity for days, as in Karachi - taxation lacunas and
bureaucratic red tape have edged out our exports in
efficiency, competitiveness and meeting contractual
obligations, from the global market. neither the
European Union’s gesture of Generalised System of
Preferences-Plus status for Pakistan in 2013, which
allowed 20 percent of our exports into European markets
at zero tariff and 70 percent at preferential rates, nor the
artificial measure of currency devaluations tried in the
past, could raise our sagging exports.
The biggest encouragement in the rs 180 billion
package is for the pivotal textiles sector, offered a 7
percent rebate as cash support of rs.58 billion on
garments, 6 percent or rs.39 billion on home textiles, 5
percent or rs. 16.5 billion on yarn, and 4 percent or
rs.12 billion on grey fabric. As a further stimulus of rs.
22.5 billion, import duty and sales tax on raw imported
cotton stands abolished, waived on man-made fibre
while 10 percent sales tax on imported textile machinery
has been removed. For the non-textiles sector, the total
cash support is rs. 22.5 billion.
While the incentives will please the business
community and add to PML-n’s share of votes, one
wonders if these will really give a boost to exports.

n an ideal world one would expect the
commandments to be addressed to advertisers instead of their victims. It is common knowledge however that, on account
of not being the most scrupulous of people
one could ever imagine, ad-men are not very susceptible to preaching. It’s therefore up to you,
reader, to save yourself from the deception that
often goes by the name of advertising. Advertising as we know it is perhaps the most cynical
profession today – easily beating noteworthy
competition in the form of politics, law, and
medicine, the practitioners of which feel compelled to use the techniques of advertising.
Consequently, despite billions spent on ads
the buyer is rarely if ever in a position to make
an informed decision. In what follows are some
of the ways this is achieved, and why you must
never fall for them. A general strategy of occasionally using one’s brain usually suffices to deal
with the different attempts to sucker you into
buying unwisely.
Thou shall not succumb to ‘subtle’
marketing
Well it isn’t exactly subtle. ‘Heartiest Eid
Mubarak from Baba Beeri’ (for example) is
hardly any better than a direct appeal to buy cigarettes of that brand (perhaps worse because of
the sneakiness involved). It’s definitely a blessed
Eid if you oblige. For Baba Beeri that is.
II. Thou shall not lap falsehoods and
obvious nonsense up
Do the following slogans sound familiar: #1
cellular service provider, trusted for 50 years, a
symbol of quality since 1947? The questions that
must be asked are: Sure it’s not since 1847?
Trusted by whom? number 1 according to
whom, especially when the rivals also make the
same claim?
never be misled by ‘figures’ and numbers either. When an AC manufacturer promises 50%
reduction in electricity bills, ask for the basis of
comparison (it most certainly isn’t what you are
being led to believe). When a whitening cream
is advertised to be 200% more effective, or a

shampoo to remove 99.9% dandruff, it’s obvious
hogwash. When a conditioner becomes ‘doubly
effective’ by the addition of Vitamin D or aloe
vera, an ad-man somewhere is obviously trying
to pull a fast one on you. Don’t let him.
III. Thou shall not follow a multitude to
buy stuff
Because many people buy a company’s
products is a pretty bad reason for you to buy
those things as well. Yes, it’s true even if it’s a
‘brand’, in which case you will probably be paying many times their worth.
IV. Thou shall not be fooled by computer
graphics
When they show you their safety razor removing the beard hair from their absolute roots,
or their soap making the germs disappear in seconds, remind yourself that that’s an animation
which has as much to do with reality as has the
exploits of say, Courage the Cowardly Dog.
V. Thou shall not let ad-men insult your
intelligence
The insult-to-intelligence ads come in many
varieties. For example, while it’s fine if you are
interested when you see a manufacturer improving its twin-blade safety razor by adding another
parallel-blade; when it is further ‘improved’ by
adding another blade, alarm bells ought to start
ringing. If nothing happens even when the number of blades becomes five or six you are not
doing justice to your intellect. The insult-to-intelligence alert must also go off when you note
that the public service message extolling the
virtues of tissue-papers is ‘sponsored’ by the tissue-paper manufacturer itself. Examples can be
multiplied but you get the point.
VI. Thou shall beware of men and women
with the white overalls
They are actors, not doctors. And don’t trust
them even if they claim their product is verified
by some royal society.
VII. Thou shall not let emotions sway
your better judgment
The usual key-words and phrases employed
are: ‘Purity of love’, ‘happy family time’, and
my all-time favorite: ‘mamta’. An especially
cynical approach (to which women are particularly susceptible) is taken by suggesting that

drinking a certain chocolate drink will catapult
your son to the top of his class in studies as well
as sports. An equally common technique (and no
less cynical) is by introducing a religious element into the ad: ‘Pack in your luggage this pill
for indigestion if you are going for Hajj’, or the
azaan sound in the background while the happy
family is breaking the fast with a particular beverage, for example.
Some corporations, such as insurance companies, seem even more concerned for the future
of your children than you are. Other companies
are hell bent on making your life better. One obviously needs to be vigilant when it comes to
such selfless people.
VIII. Thou shall not be suckered in by
limited-time offers
While it is very tempting to save 50% by
buying something before the wonderful offer expires, it pays to realise that you can save 100%
by not buying the thing, which most probably
you don’t even need, in the first place
IX. Thou shall not be misled by beauty
If you are a woman and buy something promoted by Kareena Kapoor in order to look like
Kareena Kapoor, I have bad news for you: you
won’t look anything like her. The same applies
if you are a man and hope to look like Kareena
Kapoor, or even Fawad Khan for that matter.
And if you already do, then you don’t need that
product anyway – kind of defeats the purpose either way, doesn’t it?
X. Thou shall beware of the “smart” delusion
The wish to join the ranks of smart people is
a natural one. But shopping hardly ever helped
achieve that goal. For example, designing and
manufacturing an iPhone is smart; selling an
iPhone is smart; but buying it for taking selfies
isn’t very smart (in fact the evidence in support
of the opposite is quite conclusive). True, many
smart people do use high-end smart-phones but
the grand total of people becoming smart as a result of buying the phone is zero. What applies to
smart phones applies to everything else.
Hasan Aftab Saeed is a connoisseur of
music, literature, and food (but not drinks). He
can be reached at hasanas@live.jp.

The road travelled and the road ahead
‘And I have promises to keep…’

C

HIEF of Army Staff General raheel
Sharif retired on 29th november 2016
at the end of his mandated three year
tenure. This is as it should be. Chiefs
of Army Staff do not ask for extensions nor can they give themselves extensions.
General raheel Sharif had indicated well before
his retirement that he did not want an extension
thereby making sure that the government did not
offer him one. In spite of this speculations continued with all sorts of scenarios being predicted.
The new Chief of Army Staff General Qamar
Javed Bajwa has been appointed from a list of
four senior most lieutenant generals and the entire process cannot be faulted. Hopefully this
transition will be the norm in future and that it
will cease to be the focus of media attention that
bordered on frenzy in this case. There will be
promotions, retirements and postings and they
will be according to well established rules and
procedures that ensure that the right man gets the
right job thereby creating the best command and
staff team for the years ahead. This is how the
military system works and delivers.
The beauty of the military system is that no
two generals are alike in spite of having been
through the same process of training and service
experience. So when one general says that he is
not like so and so he is stating a fact. This is because the military system is dynamic and encourages individuality at every stage of the career and
because a grooming process takes place on the
basis of demonstrated ability and talent. The implication is that we can look forward to General
Qamar Bajwa’s own style of command even as

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208

I

he pursues policies already underway. He will be
backed by the inherent institutional and structural strength of the institution that he now heads
as were all his predecessors. One can expect that
the government will continue to get well thought
out and considered input from the military.
The circumstances that defined General raheel Sharif’s tenure made him venture into spaces
that were left open and his motivation sprang
from national and not personal interest. Left vacant those spaces would have been exploited to
create massive national crises. He picked up the
slack in the judicial process as part of the war on
terror, he launched into FATA after the threat expanded manifold with no coordinated response
against it, he helped forge the national Action
Plan and the Apex Committees to help in its implementation, he gave the rangers free rein in
Karachi after seeing the city decline into a nexus
of crime, terror and political expediency and he
personally supported the government in the foreign policy and security domains by timely visits
and interactions. There has been a more than 80
per cent drop in violence related civilian casualties since he took over. This statistic more than
anything else indicates the success achieved. Pakistan is no longer a failed, failing or fragile state
— it is poised to benefit enormously from the
CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) project rightly called a game changer for Pakistan.
Inevitably there was talk of the civilian government ceding space to the military under pressure or of the military calling the shots — a
hackneyed phrase if ever there was on — or the
civil and military establishments not being on the
same page. none of these ideas had any basis and
that is why they never stuck. What did standout
was an absence of reciprocity to create a team and
institutional structures for the best possible functional arrangements to work with the military.

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

I

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

This had to do with forums for institutionalised
decision making, the right personalities for interaction and a reining in of elements strait jacketed
in past hatreds, feuds and petty ambitions. It is to
the credit of General raheel Sharif that he ensured the complete detachment of the military
from interference in political matters and those
who banked on him for covert or overt intervention were rudely disappointed. General raheel
Sharif also demonstrated restraint and maturity in
the face of the blatant provocations from across
our borders though he did speak of latent retaliatory capacity that could be unleashed.
What lies ahead is a long delayed consolidation phase and this has to be done jointly by the
civil and military establishments. A well thought
out policy is needed for Kashmir, the LOC conflict and relations with India. FATA needs to be
mainstreamed and secured so that there is no
ingress from an insidious threat and this includes
the return of Afghan refugees and rehabilitation
of those displaced. Karachi has to be brought
under strong governance and administrative control and this includes enhancing of civilian institutions. An internal transition that addresses
international concerns about Pakistan needs to get
underway so that a reset in foreign relations is
backed by an image make-over — this will also
create the right environment for economic gains
and for the CPEC project. The national Action
Plan has to be implemented. General Bajwa will
be leading the military team that will work on all
these issues with the government team even as he
ensures credible deterrence that includes secure
borders and calibrated responses to threats — internal and external. Expectations are high.
Spearhead Analyses are collaborative efforts
and not attributable to a single individual.
Website: www.spearheadresearch.org
I

Actions speak louder
than words
THE news that Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC),
Punjab, has helped a UK-based Pakistani get back rs 6.6m
from a man who had embezzled the amount on pretext of
setting up a textile unit is welcoming and sheds light on the
fact that actions speak louder than words. It is pertinent to
mention here that OPC is an initiative by the Punjab
Government to redress the grievances of overseas Pakistanis.
Since its formation, OPC is playing a pivotal and proactive
role to resolve and address the issues faced by expatriates. By
establishing overseas police stations and setting up
committees at District level to address problems of overseas
Pakistanis, OPC remains committed in its efforts to mitigate
the sufferings of people living abroad. It is hoped that the
OPC would remain firm and committed in its efforts to help
reduce the plight of overseas Pakistanis and would take all
necessary steps to promote their rights.
DANIA ALI
Lahore

Free Hepatitis Medicines

Far from a conclusion
“…and ideas are bullet proof.”

Hafsa KHawaja

M

IrrOrED by a decline in the
number of terrorist attacks and
incidences and the restoration of
a semblance of law and order,
Pakistan’s fight against terrorism has recently begun to be touted as a story
of success.
However, within the month of December
alone, a number of developments occurred
which question this assertion. There occurred a
siege and attack by a mob of 1,000 people on
an Ahmadi mosque in Chakwal, during which
a 65-year old man belonging to the persecuted
minority suffered and died of cardiac arrest. The
Federal Minister for religious Affairs Sardar
Muhammad Yusuf also happened to present a
“peace award” to apostle of peace and esteemed
ambassador of inter-sectarian harmony Masroor
nawaz Jhangvi, who is now a member of the
Punjab Assembly after winning the PP-78
Jhang by-election. Furthermore, flocks of people were reported to be drawing to a site at the
outskirts of the capital which was revealed to
be the grave of Mumtaz Qadri that is now being
turned into a shrine. news of the interior ministry’s preparation of the draft of a law which
seeks to give military courts, whose term expired on January 7, permanent status also did
the rounds. Lastly, while Jibran nasir struggles
to get a case registered against Abdul Aziz for
his declared allegiance to ISIS and for incitement of hate against Shias, pressure from the
Sunni Tehreek led to the registration of an FIr
and a spate of death threats against Shaan
Taseer, son of slain governor Salmaan Taseer,
for conveying Christmas greetings to Christians
in Pakistan and expressing hope of redressal for
those subjected to the blasphemy law.
That these developments occurred within
the span of a single month is an unsettling realisation which also asks for the direction and
narrative of Pakistan’s campaign against terrorism and extremism to be probed and reviewed.
A concrete answer to the question and status of Pakistan’s fight against terrorism and extremism is found in Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s
inquiry report into Quetta’s Civil Hospital attack of 9th August 2016. The 110 page report

provides extensive insights into the “monumen- hindrance of transparency and accountability.
tal failure to combat terrorism and perform According to the Justice Project Pakistan, an esbasic protocols” especially pertaining to the na- timated 400 prisoners have been executed since
tional Action Plan. It mentions not only a lack the lifting of the moratorium, pulling Pakistan
of action against proscribed organisations, that to the position of the third most prolific execuhave freely held rallies in Islamabad, but also a tioner globally. The JPP also states that a slim
brazen “cavorting” by key government figures 16 per cent of the executions carried out since
with the heads of these organisations, as was December 2014 were tied to charges of terrordemonstrated by the meeting between the inte- ism, while the rest involved juveniles and disrior minister and Ahmed Ludhianvi of Ahle abled inmates. The mockery and sham of justice
Sunnat Wal Juma’at. The report further makes continues at the courts and the gallows.
Moreover, the attack which gave rise to a
mention of lapses, limitations and inadequacies
in terms of the tools and methodologies used to national sense of urgency in dealing with terrorinvestigate attacks; along with sheer negligence ism has yet to be investigated. The APS attack,
in “silencing extremist speech, literature, and which the so-called “paradigm shift” and the
propaganda” and the stark “shortsightedness” national Action Plan were predicated upon, has
of the federal and provincial governments in actually been the subject of a concerted and
thwarting terrorism and extremism. The report brazen campaign of silencing and harassment
is an act of Qazi Isa’s professional integrity and which has been directed at the parents who have
bravery, but it is also a damning expose and in- been tirelessly and bravely demanding an indictment of the government, the interior min- quiry and investigation into the ghastly attack.
istry and the failure and façade that is the Two years on, an inquiry into the APS attack
has not been ordered but actively suppressed.
national Action Plan.
In light of these realiThe number of terrorist
ties, as Pakistan steps into
attacks and incidents in
2017 it is necessary to proPakistan may have regisceed with cautious optitered a considerable drop in
mism and realise that the
numbers but they are far
calm engendered by a defrom over. In fact, their
A concrete answer to the
cline in terrorist attacks is
focus in certain areas and
relative and temporary as
upon certain communities
question and status of
long as the roots and the
remains as forceful and
Pakistan’s fight against
many manifestations of
fatal as ever. The past year
alone remains relevant in
terrorism and extremism is the menace are not tackled. This relative calm
illustrating this. In 2016, a
found in Justice Qazi Faez should not engender a
Shia majlis was attacked in
sense of complacency
nazimabad, killing four.
Isa’s inquiry report into
among the federal and
But denial about targeted
killings of the beleaguered Quetta’s Civil Hospital attack provincial governments
whose approach to the
Shia community persist
of 9th August 2016.
issue already comprises
within the wider narrative
craven surrender, prevariof the population. Quetta
cations and papering over
was also frequently bethe problem. The scourge
sieged by tragedies which
of terrorism and extremhave ceaselessly continued
ism doesn’t only need to
to devour and devastate the
city. In August, the blast at the Civil Hospital be subdued but stifled and strangled to an end.
killed an entire generation of the city’s legal There exists a dire for a fundamental change in
community, while the attack on the police train- the framework, direction, orientation and agening academy took the lives of 61 cadets and das of the state and the actors steering them.
guards. In September, suicide-bombers targeted neither declarations, nor a rhetoric of resolve
a mosque in Mohmand Agency, and an Imam- and programs like the national Action Plan
bargah in Shikarpur during Eid prayers. Earlier would suffice. Templates and infrastructures
in 2016, the attacks on Bacha Khan University like the nAP can only aid and facilitate actual
and Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park took place. The sites implementation on ground which demands pofor terrorist assaults may have shifted to neg- litical will, courage, vision and resolve that relected and orphaned “peripheries” like Quetta pudiate political expediency, cavorting,
and FATA, but the danger and threat persist. And patronising, pacifying and pandering to milithey will linger as long as state institutions re- tant, sectarian organisations and the many faces
main divided on the matter and continue to keep and forms of extremism. Until then, Pakistan’s
in place dubious policies and doctrines that bar success against terrorism, drawn from a dean unequivocal commitment to counter extrem- crease in the number of attacks, must be recogism and terrorism in all tints and tones. This is nised as partial success in a war with multiple
no longer a contention but a judgement officially battles and fronts, a war still far from a concluarticulated and validated by Justice Isa’s report. sion today.
On the other hand, the lifted moratorium on
Hafsa Khawaja is a freelance contributor
the death penalty, perhaps the only implemented
measure of the much-hailed national Action who blogs on socio-political issues and affairs
Plan, continues to work in full force without any at http://hafsakhawaja.wordpress.com

KEEPInG in view the alarming rate of people suffering from
hepatitis, the approval by the provincial government to
procure hepatitis medicines for public sector hospitals in the
province and provide them to patients free of cost is a
welcome step. It is pertinent to mention here that viral
hepatitis - known as hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E - affects
millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic liver
disease. Since around 20 million people in the country have
been suffering from this viral disease and most of the people
are unaware that they are carriers of this deadly virus
therefore, it is hoped that the government along with the civil
society would be sincere in its efforts to spread awareness
regarding this disease prevention and management so that we
might save the future generations of Pakistan from this deadly
disease. Only words will not do anything until they are
followed by actions.
SHEHAr BANo SyED
Lahore

Eliminating corruption
THE finalisation of recommendations by the Cabinet
Committee on Anti-Corruption Establishment Law reforms to
make Anti-Corruption Establishment more effective is a
welcome step. The move calls for applause as it will help
improve conviction rate of the culprits. Unfortunately,
corruption in Pakistan is widespread and is playing havoc with
the socio-economic development of the country. Since
corruption is a curse and a major hurdle to the progress and
prosperity of the country therefore, it is hoped that the
government would remain sincere in its efforts to root out this
menace from society on priority basis only then Pakistan
would be able to make progress by leaps and bounds.
SAqIB ALI
Lahore

Now or never
ALL the dams on the Indus, Tarbela upwards are outside the
monsoon range and depend only on snow melt from the
glaciers. We need at least one dam which will store and
save the copious monsoon flows for irrigation and power
generation, and also to moderate the floods which devastate
south Punjab and Sindh every year.
Why is it that while Tarbela dam on the Indus is
acceptable - Sindh being the biggest beneficiary and Bhasha
dam on the Indus our future hope - Kalabagh dam, also on the
Indus is not acceptable?
The issue is far too important to be left to the politicians
who have their genuine compulsions and cannot go against the
will of their illiterate voters if they want to remain in business.
It is for the experts to spell out the apprehensions of the
stake holders and sift facts from fiction. Tell the people
where their fears are without any basis, tell them the dangers
of dwindling storage capacity, the last increase having been
made 40 years ago when the population was 8 crore and not
20 crore, tell them of the multiple benefits that accrue from
storage of each ‘maf’, benefits which have been lost to us for
20 years and will continue to be lost for another 15 years.
Are the experts up to this onerous task?
ENgr KHurSHID ANWEr
Lahore

A leap of faith
AT this crucial time when- after PIA plane crashes, the wavering
image of the airline is at stake, the staff chooses to ridicule the
whole nation with their superstitions and rituals attempted to satisfy the passengers of the next flight, after the incident of 7th
December, by sacrificing a Goat instead of keeping technical
checks. PIA is hiding its incompetence through these "Sadqas"
and has left its fleet on God's mercy. This event states the mentality of our nation that we seek for things, make prayers but are
unwilling to make things happen, this is how strong our belief
system is. The need of hour is to take safety precautions, keep
check on technical issues and nOT overlook the negligence of
the concerned authorities.
NIDA MIrzA
Sialkot

10 BUSINESS

Thursday, 12 January, 2017

Russian GazpRom mulls joint
ventuRe with pakistan’s oGDCl
ISLAMABAD

a

AHMAD AHMADANI

high profile delegation of
Moscow's state-owned natural gas giant Gazprom is expected to visit Pakistan during
the month of February to materialise a deal regarding a joint venture
with Islamabad’s OGDCL for the exploration and production of oil and gas.
Well-placed sources told Pakistan
Today that a delegation of Moscow's
state-owned natural gas giant Gazprom
would visit Pakistan during the next
month of February to hold discussions
with Petroleum Ministry and Oil and
Gas Development Company Limited
(OGDCL) officials for materialising a
deal regarding a joint venture with the
OGDCL. Russia’s Gazprom is mulling
hydrocarbon exploration and production projects in Pakistan and is interested to start joint work with the
OGDCL, they added.
“A big cooperation in the field of
energy is planned to take place, according to the negotiations so far held between Pakistan and Russia, in the
coming days,” sources said, adding that
many companies are mulling investment and exploring opportunities for direct investment in Pakistan after the
inking of $2 billion gas pipeline project
from Karachi to Lahore.
The sources also informed that
Gazprom was keen to work with
OGDCL in exploration and production
(E&P) of oil and gas. They said Russian
firm is interested to obtain a separate
field from OGDCL to start E & P activities in the oil and gas sector of Pakistan. Russian investment in the field of
exploration and production of oil and
gas sector of Pakistan is likely if upcoming meeting between the two companies prove fruitful, sources said.
Petroleum Ministry officials on the

condition of anonymity confirmed that
discussions with Russia’s Gazprom are
underway and soon they would visit
Pakistan. They said that there exists a
lot of potential and scope for Gazprom
investment in the oil, gas and mineral
sector in Pakistan. Also, Gazprom’s participation in hydrocarbon exploration
and production projects in the country
would also help promote the existing
volume of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. “Many Russian companies are keen to invest in
Pakistan as large number of companies
has so far shown interest in oil and gas
sector of the country,” they said.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led
government in Pakistan had signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
in November, 2010 with Russian federation to pursue joint projects and cooperation in the oil and gas sector. The
MoU was signed by Federal Minister for
Petroleum Syed Naveed Qamar and
Russian Minister for Energy SI Shmatko
in Moscow. During the ceremony, the
Russian minister expressed his desire to
participate in developing joint ventures
with Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) in exploration
and development of oil and gas prospects
in Pakistan and also offered technology
and investment for the purpose.
Energy experts are of the view that

Pakistan has currently been seeking international cooperation, investment and
joint ventures to boost all types of energy
- natural gas, electricity and petroleum to shore up its industrial production and
gross domestic product (GDP), which has
fallen nearly two per cent to 4.5 per cent
in fiscal year 2016. The under negotiation
cooperation with Russia and Gazprom is
part of this plan, they added.
Continuing with the policy of previous government regarding enhanced
regional cooperation in the field of energy, incumbent Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) government
has intensified bilateral relation with
Russia and central Asian states.
Minister of Petroleum and Natural
Resources Shahid Khakan Abbasi also
held repeated meetings in Moscow with
his Russian counterpart in a bid to enhance and intensify bilateral cooperation in the energy sector. Pakistan and
Russia had signed a government-togovernment deal in October 2015 to
construct a pipeline to transport liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Karachi to
Lahore. Moscow will lend Islamabad
$2 billion for the project.
Pakistan and Russia enjoyed cordial
friendly relations and bilateral cooperation between the two countries in various
walks of life, especially in the petroleum
sector was growing at a fast pace for the

mutual advantage. The gift from
Moscow is the planned $2 billion Russian investment in 1,100-kilometre natural gas pipeline, from Karachi to Lahore.
In August last year, Pakistan and
Russia signed a landmark defence deal
for the sale of four Mi-35 ‘Hind E’ attack helicopters to Pakistan and are currently in talks about the delivery of
Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets.
The former Soviet Union had financed the construction of the stateowned Pakistan Steel Mills. The Steel
Mills is the hallmark of Pak-Russia economic relations and Russia has already
constructed Muzaffargarh and Gaddu
power stations and was thus playing its
role in resolving the energy related problems of Pakistan. The soviets had also
helped supply some of the oil drilling
equipment for the state-owned Oil and
Gas Development Company. Some of
that equipment is in use till date.
In 1961, Pakistan set up its largest
E&P firm, the Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDCL), with the
financial and technical support of Soviet
technical experts. The cooperation remained almost non-existent for decades
due to diplomatic reasons.
A leading Russian petroleum company, JGC Rosgeologia (Rosgeo), had
already signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Oil and Gas Company Ltd
(KPOGCL). Under the MoU, the jointstock company Rosgeo from Moscow
will extend long-term cooperation in
KP’s exploration and production (E&P)
sector. Reportedly, the non-binding
agreement will envisage long-term cooperation between the two companies to
perform various E&P activities, including geological and geophysical field
works, 2D and 3D seismic data acquisition, drilling and related services, warehousing and jointly acquiring concession
blocks in various parts of Pakistan.

Former Khyber Paktunkhwa Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (KPCCI) presidents on Wednesday welcomed the massive Rs.180 billion package of Prime
Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif for promotion of
exports sector and termed it a historic and positive
step of the federal government, which will increase
the country's exports and generating employment opportunities for the youth.
Former KPCCI president Faud Ishaq told APP

that Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif deserved full credit and appreciation for announcing a
massive Rs180 billion package for promotion of exports sector that would also largely benefited the exporters and business community of Khyber
Pakthunkhwa (KP) and FATA.
Ishaq said this massive package would not only
strengthen economy but also promote industrialisation,
generate employment opportunities and enhanced the
exports of Pakistan. With promotion of exports sector,
he said, the problems of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and migration of population from villages to

urban areas would also be addressed.
"The package is historic and unprecedented and I
thanked the Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif
for fulfilling yet another demand of business community and exporters for announcing a massive
Rs180package for promotion of exports sector," he remarked. Significant reduction in hours of load shedding in urban and rural areas is yet another
achievement of PML-N government, Dr Sarwar said,
adding that uninterrupted power to industrial units had
increased production capacity of industrial units and
also enhanced employment opportunities.

219 exhibitors take
part in heimtextil Fair
in Frankfurt
KARACHI: Around 219 exhibitors took
part in Heimtextil Fair, being held from
January 10-13 in Frankfurt (Germany)
while 55 Pakistani companies to participate
in this exhibition under the flag of Trade
Development Authority of Pakistan
(TDAP) pavilion. Over 2000 trade visitors
from Pakistan are attending Heimtextil
Frankfurt 2017. With a strong increase in
the number of exhibitors and all indications
suggesting that the new furnishing season
will be a good one, Heimtextil started on
Tuesday in Frankfurt. It is not just the
number of home textile exhibitors that has
grown in 2017, but also the exhibition
space. Heimtextil in Frankfurt is by far the
most international event of its kind.
Pakistan have 219 exhibitors of which 55
exhibitors are participating under the TDAP
pavilion in halls 10 and 10.3. This will
make Pakistan the 4th largest country at the
show behind Germany, China and India.
Pakistani Ambassador in Germany Jauhar
Saleem will also be visiting the show. In
home textiles, Pakistan has a very strong
and important position in the textile market.
Hall 10 which has exhibitors of bed sheets,
towels and kitchen linen, the biggest
country is Pakistan. Premium exhibitors
like Gul Ahmed, Kamal, Sapphire can be
found in hall 10.2. STAFF REPORT

state Bank allows
clearinghouse
membership to CDns
KARACHI: In order to facilitate the
general public, SBP has allowed
clearinghouse membership to Central
Directorate of National Savings (CDNS).
State Bank has issued instructions to all the
banks to accept profit coupon / withdrawals
slips pertaining to Pensioners Benefit
Account (PBA), Behbood Saving
Certificate (BSC) and Saving Account (SA)
of CDNS. The investors can now deposit
these instruments directly into their bank
accounts, located anywhere in Pakistan.
These instruments will be cleared by CDNS
through NIFT. Upon receipt of successful
clearance from National Savings, banks
will then credit respective accounts of such
investors. STAFF REPORT

The Economic Coordination Committee
of the cabinet (ECC) on Wednesday approved extension in the collection of
Neelum Jhelum surcharge at Rs 0.10 per
kilowatt hour up to June 30, 2018 and
consented giving a sovereign guarantee
for WAPDA to get Rs 32 billion credit
from banks for settling net hydel profit
claims of Punjab.
The meeting was chaired by Finance
Minister Ishaq Dar. The ECC approved
the proposal of Ministry of Water and
Power to extend the closing date of collection of Neelum Jhelum surcharge at Rs
0.10/kWh up to June 30, 2018, for the
Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project.
The previous closing date for the surcharge was December 31, 2016. The extension in the closing date for a period of
18 months up till June 30, 2018, is expected to result in collection of Rs 9 billion which will assist in ensuring
successful completion of the project.
An official source said that the ECC
meeting was informed that the surge was
required to meet up with the shortfall in
the work on the project.

Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project
was started in 2008 with a financial close
and its estimated cost of construction increased from initial Rs 38 billion to Rs
174 billion and then to Rs 274 billion during the PPP government.
Under the present government the estimate has increased to over Rs 440 billion
and WAPDA authorities initially said the
project would be completed in 2017 but as
per their new schedule the project would
be completed in mid-2018. Minister for
Water and Power Khawaja Asif has recently said the project will start power generation in the monsoon season of 2017.
The ECC also approved sovereign
guarantee for the loan of WAPDA to pay
net hydel profit of Rs 32 billion to Punjab. The authority had earlier claimed that
it did not have resources to pay Punjab
during the current financial year. The authority had sought sovereign guarantee
for obtaining loan for payment to the
provincial government. The remaining
amount from the Rs 80 billion will be
paid to Punjab in equal instalments during
the next three years.
An official statement said that in pursuance of the decision of the Council of
Common Interests (CCI), ECC approved

the proposal of Ministry of Water and
Power for issuance of Letter of Comfort
and GoP guarantee by finance division to
WAPDA for settlement of Net Hydel
Profit claims of government of Punjab.
ECC approved the summary submitted by finance division regarding the
Prime Minister’s Package of Incentives
for Exporters which has been formulated
with a view to mitigate exporters’ difficulties and enhance the country’s exports.
The package will have an estimated financial impact of Rs 180 billion, and is applicable for the period from January 16,
2017, till June 30, 2018. The incentives
for FY 2017-18 would only be available
to those exporters who would achieve an
increase of 10 per cent in their exports as
compared to their exports for FY 2016-17.
The Finance Division informed the
ECC about the latest key economic indicators, including reviews of product’s
prices, inflation, commodity stock position, energy figures, foreign exchange reserves, foreign investment, trade
performance and tax revenues.
The ECC was informed that headline
inflation measured by CPI increased by
3.7 per cent in December 2016 compared
to 3.8 per cent in November 2016.

ECC was apprised that the reported
stock of wheat as on January 03, 2017, is
7.5 million tonnes showing that sufficient
quantity of local wheat is available for
daily releases to mills by the provincial
food departments and the PASSCO.
The finance division informed the
ECC that the stock of various POL products averaged 34 days on January 10,

2017. It was also informed that production in the Large Scale Manufacturing
sector stood at 2 per cent in July-October
FY 2017. The ECC was apprised that
worker remittances received during JulyDecember FY 2017 amounted to $ 9.45
billion. It was also informed that gross
foreign exchange reserves stood at $
23.18 billion as on January 09, 2017.

HE wood industry of Chinese
province of Shandong has complained to Prime Minister Mian
Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, that the
increase of 50 per cent to 75 per
cent in Import Tariff Price (ITP) on their
product Melamine MDF Door Skin, is unjust due to which the industry, importers and
traders are facing problems.
According to details given by a reliable
source, Messers Shouaguang Sales Manager
Tayeb Wood has sent a letter to the prime
minster in which she discussed the problems being faced by the Chinese manufacturers and exporters. She said that they are
being isolated and they strongly feel that
valuation barrier and hurdles are being created to outplay Chinese exporters in a bid to
promote Malaysian-primed moulded door
skin in the Pakistani market.
She requested the prime minister to in-

world Bank revises
pakistan's growth
rate upward
ISLAMABAD: World Bank has revised
Pakistan's growth rate upward to 5.2 per
cent for fiscal year 2017 and 5.5 per cent
for 2018. The bank previously estimated
growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
of Pakistan 5 per cent and 5.4 per cent
respectively, a private news channel
reported. The report ‘Global Economic
Prospects; weak investment in uncertain
times’, states that the uptake in activity was
spurred by a combination of low
commodity prices, rising infrastructure
spending, and reforms that lifted domestic
demand and improved the business climate.
In Pakistan, growth is forecast to accelerate
from 5.5 per cent in fiscal year 2018 to 5.8
per cent a year in fiscal year 2019-20,
reflecting improvements in agriculture,
infrastructure, energy, and external demand.
The report further mentioned the successful
conclusion of Special Drawing Rights
(SDR) 4.393 billion IMF Extended Fund
Facility (EFF) programme, aimed at
supporting reforms and reducing fiscal and
external sector vulnerabilities, lifted
consumer and investor confidence. APP

pBiF calls for
patronising ‘ailing’
handicrafts sector
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Businessmen and
Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) President Mian
Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said there is a
great demand for locally made handicrafts
in the international market therefore this
sector should be promoted. The PBIF
president said that this is the only sector
that is directly linked with the skilled
women and therefore its promotion will not
only serve the cause of poverty reduction
and women empowerment but also reduce
unemployment while providing foreign
exchange to the country, according to a
press release issued on Wednesday. Mian
Zahid Hussain said that handicraft was once
a major source of livelihood for millions of
people but rising cost of inputs, difficult
access to credit and poor marketing
network, have brought the industry to its
present dismal state. Low prices, lack of
proper marketing, want of exhibition
centres, discouraging behaviour of the
bureaucracy, and the rising costs business
were some reasons behind the decline, he
added. He said that millions of people are
working in this sector but it is not organised
while it continues to suffer due to the
negligence of the authorities. Besides that,
there is a long history of abusive techniques
employed by the ‘middlemen’ who give
only meager return to the artisans for their
hard work, he said, adding that nothing has
been done to save the artisans from the
clutches of brokers, he said. ONLINE

tervene in the matter and help them resolve
the issue. She has also sent a copy of the letter to the China‘s State Counsel Premier Li
Keqiang and Federal Minister for Finance

and Economic Affairs Ishaq Dar.
In her letter, she also spoke about the
long history of China-Pakistan friendship,
which she said is meant to last forever.

BUSINESS 11
CORPORATE CORNER
abraaj Group partners with
islamabad Diagnostics Centre
LAHORE: Abraaj Group, a leading investor operating in global
growth markets, on Wednesday announced that it has partnered
with Islamabad Diagnostics Centre (IDC), a leading diagnostics
chain in Pakistan, through its funds. Founded in 2003 by Dr
Rizwan Uppal, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Nafees Medical
College, and his brothers Dr Imran Uppal and Dr Rehan Uppal,
IDC is an affordable diagnostics business operating in 20 centers
across Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Wah Cantonment and Hasanabdal.
The company is looking to expand its presence across Islamabad,
Rawalpindi and additional cities in the Punjab province, with the
aim to expand its presence to over 50 centres in the next five
years. Since inception, IDC has built a successful track record
and is known for its latest imaging technologies, broad range of
laboratory tests and quick turn-around times, with over 350 staff
members and one of Pakistan’s largest pools of qualified
radiologists on its team. It is also the only diagnostic centre in
the capital that provides lab and imaging services on a 24/7
basis, 365 days a year. Pakistan has a relatively underfunded
public healthcare system which is not equipped to meet the
needs of the population. The private sector has been filling the
gap and 87 per cent of healthcare spending is funded out-ofpocket. The diagnostics market is extremely fragmented with
less than 10 players across the country with more than 20
centres. There are more than 200,000 potential healthcare
referral points in Pakistan, yet less than 6,000 diagnostic service
providers, leaving significant room for the sector to grow and
meet market demand. PRESS RELEASE

uBl, mastercard launch
‘cashback campaign’

KSE 100-Index closes
at 49,372 points
ISLAMABAD
NIDA JAFFERY

Contrary to last day’s sentiment, the KSE
Benchmark 100 Share Index staged a
buoyant session backed by gains from fertilizers, banks and cements. The index
gained 505 points or 1.04 per cent to close
at 49,372 points at day end on Wednesday.
Day before yesterday’s losses became
start performers yesterday as investors directed their interest towards fertilizers
after confirmation that the GST situation
is favourable and meeting is soon to be
called for the discussion of prices.
Pakistan market reverted back to its
upward trajectory after two dull sessions.
Out of total, 59 constituents of the KSE100 index were in green. Investors’ interest remained positive in index heavy
weights. MCB Bank (MCB), Fauji Fertilizer (FFC), United Bank (UBL) and Hub
Power(HUBCO) cumulatively added 269
points to the gain.

Upbeat sentiment prevailed in the
banking sector where Muslim Commercial
Bank, United Bank Limited, Habib Bank
Limited and Bank Alfalah managed to
gain in the band range of 0.6 per cent to
3.6 per cent. Investors preferred to book
gains in the textile sector post announcement of long awaited textile package.
Nishat Chunia (NCL), Nishat Mills
(NML) and Kohinoor Textiles (KTML)
declined by 0.3 per cent, 0.4 per cent and
1.8 per cent, respectively.
Major contribution in the northbound
trend came from Muslim Commercial
Bank (+3.59 per cent), Fauji Fertilizer
Company (+3.63 per cent), United Bank
Limited (+2.02 per cent), Hub Power
Company Limited (+2.57 per cent) and
Lucky Cements (+1.97 per cent) adding
268 points to the index.
Overall, volumes increased by 11.3
per cent to 460 million shares, while value
increased by 23.8 per cent to Rs24.9billion/$239million.

PASDEC to provide technical support for
AJK stone development
ISLAMABAD
APP

PADECC Chief Executive Officer Zahid
Maqsood Sheikh on Wednesday said Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC) would provide technical support to
the government of Azad
Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) for development of the enormous reserves of high
value dimensional stones in the region.
He expressed these views while talking to State of Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan. The CEO
PASDEC informed that the company
would help in planning, development and
execution of mechanised quarries processing of the AJK departments.
It would facilities in skill development
and establishment of industrial estates in

Azad Kashmir for the development of the
sector. The president was informed that
PASDEC was desirous to work in close
coordination with the AJK government to
develop the enormous reserves of high
value dimensional stones in the region.
Zahid Maqsood also briefed the AJK
president about the potential and development prospects of marble and granite sector
in the state. He also informed that PASDEC
and government of AJK were in process of
signing a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) for sector development in the region.
The president appreciated the efforts
and initiatives taken by the company for the
development of the sector and assured that
the government of the AJK would extend all
the necessary support to PASDEC for the
ultimate benefit of the people of the state in
particular and the country in general.

FATA has potential to produce 20 trillion CF gas: Jhagra
PESHAWAR: On the instruction of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Engr. Iqbal
Zafar Jhagra, 2D seismic survey of 15 blocks of oil and gas in FATA has been completed
which has the potential of producing 20 trillion cubic feet of gas. The governor
announced this while presiding over a high level meeting regarding exploration of oil and
gas in FATA. FATA Additional Chief Secretary Fida Wazir, Chief Executive Raziuddin
Razi, Oil and Gas FATA Director Azhar Mehboob, Senior Executive Administration
Engr. Sheikh Amin Jan and GM Reservoir Sadaqat Syed were also present in the
meeting. Chief Executive Raziuddin Razi gave a detailed presentation about exploration
of blocks lying in FATA and FRs. Director Oil and Gas FATA Azhar Mehboob apprised
the governor about the ongoing developmental schemes in FATA. ONLINE

KARACHI: UBL and Mastercard launched 50 per cent ‘cashback
campaign’ with Pizza Hut and Burger King through UBL Masterpass
QR. MCR manages world renowned food brands Pizza Hut and
Burger King in Pakistan. With this offer, customers can avail up to
50 per cent cashback on their UBL Masterpass QR transaction
done on any Pizza Hut and Burger King outlets across the country.
When ready to checkout, customers can simply ‘scan to pay’ by
accessing the Masterpass QR functionality on their UBL Omni
mobile app and scanning the QR code displayed at the merchant’s
checkout counter. This provides the customer with a fast, secure
and convenient payment experience on UBL Omni mobile app. UBL
Head Digital Banking Muhammad Zaman said on the occasion
“UBL has been the leading financial institution offering innovative
products and services in the space of digital payments. This new
service will go a long way in further changing the payment
landscape in Pakistan. We are delighted to team up with world’s
leading brands Mastercard, Pizza Hut and Burger King to facilitate
customers with this new service.” Mastercard Pakistan and
Afghanistan Country Head Aurangzaib Khan said: “At Mastercard
we constantly strive to provide consumers with better and more
rewarding ways to pay, and this new campaign launched in
collaboration with UBL and MCR is a further step in our efforts to
bring the benefits of digital payment technology to a broader
segment of merchants and consumers.” PRESS RELEASE

total paRCo bags Brands of the
Year award 2015-16 in the mnC
petroleum Category

KARACHI: The governing body of Brands Foundation (A nonprofit,
public company) being the accredited permanent observers of
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO-Specialized
Agency of United Nations), on 2nd January-2017, awarded Total
Parco Pakistan Limited with the Brands of the year award trophy
and certification for the period 2015-16 in the category of MNCPetroleum Services, at a ceremony held at the Grand Convention
Marquee, on PAF Museum Road, Karachi. Mr. Mian Raza Rabbani
(Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan) was the chief guest on the
occasion, who distributed the awards to almost 150 brands in the
country in different categories, out of a total of 1500 contestants,
scrutinized by the Brands Foundation.HusnainQayum Khan
(Manager Marketing) received the award on behalf of Total Parco
Pakistan Limited. PRESS RELEASE

12 WORLD VIEW

Thursday, 12 January, 2017

Challenging historiCal
and politiCal narratives
on Kashmir
IT IS AN ACCESSION ACCEPTED PROVISIONALLY BEING
SUBJECT TO SUBSEQUENT RATIFICATION BY THE
PEOPLE AND, THEREFORE, LACKING FINALITY
CounterPunCH

m

NYLa aLi KhaN

Y maternal grandmother,
Akbar Jehan, and her children were subjected to deprivation in my maternal
grandfather, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s long absence after
his ouster and arrest in 1953. They were
condemned to isolation, but Akbar Jehan
did not cringe. I still see vestiges of the
distrust of statist versions of history and
criminalization of progressive politics in
Mother, which she must have imbibed in
her inclement and agitated childhood. But
Akbar Jehan was the powerful trooper,
the silent force that kept the flag flying
while anti-colonial and anti-feudal freedom fighters like Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Mirza Afzal Beg, and other
soldiers of the Plebiscite Front were
shunted from one jail to the other, from
one solitary confinement to the other.
There is a historical value in revisiting and challenging narratives about the
political personages of pre- and post1947 Jammu and Kashmir and the movement for political self-determination. I
continue to employ oral testimonies and
I rely on written sources, works authored
or coauthored by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, to add layers of understanding to
the tumultuous events that molded the
history of Jammu and Kashmir.
The early part of Akbar Jehan’s life
with the Sheikh, even as the consort of
the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was constrained by hardship, uncertainty, political duplicity, and constant
attempts to curb freedom. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s ouster on August 9,
1953, at the behest of the Prime Minister
of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his subsequent arrest, was an event that alienated
the Kashmiri masses and cast his next of
kin as personae non grata. The Sheikh’s
vociferous protests against, what he per-

ceived as, endeavors to erode the constitutional autonomy of the state and undemocratically legitimize its integration into
the Indian Union earned him the disapprobation of some of his former allies.
For the benefit of students of politics
and history, I reproduce the speech that
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was scheduled to make on Eid in Srinagar on August
1953 but was unable to, because of the arbitrary dismissal of his government and his
incarceration:“This uncertainty and suspense not only tells on the minds and
nerves of the people, but also affects activities of the government in all directions. Almost all measures for raising the economic
standards of the people carry a stamp of unreality in face of the over-riding uncertainty. Efficiency in administration suffers
as the civil servants get mixed in opposite
groups of power and vested interest. It becomes difficult to plan and delay occurs in
the implementation of various nationbuilding schemes, which must all wait for
an over-all solution. The prevalent uncertainty encourages corruption, and the unscrupulous make hay while the drift lingers
on. The accession of Kashmir to India, otherwise complete in all other respects, possesses one essential disqualification. It is an
accession accepted provisionally being
subject to subsequent ratification by the
people and, therefore, lacking finality and,
as such, a major contribution to the uncertainty itself. It is also true that Pakistan has
come to occupy the position of a party directly and vitally concerned with this issue.
It is important to bear this fact in mind
when we propose, in our eagerness to end
the uncertainty, to settle the issue of accession quickly. Added to it is the fact that the
Kashmir problem continues to be a favorite
topic on the agenda of the Security Council
to be discussed when and as necessary and
a matter of international dispute. Then there
is the suggestion that the accession should
be finalized by a vote of the Constituent
Assembly. The question is, are decisions of

the Constituent Assembly binding on India,
Pakistan, and the UN? The Government of
India, as a principal party to the dispute, itself does not consider a decision of the
Constituent Assembly on the accession
issue binding on it. This is clear from the
extracts quoted here from Shri B. N. Rau’s
statements in the Security Council as leader
of the Indian delegation in March 1951: “I
shall now turn to the matter which appears
to have caused some concern to certain
members of the Council, viz., the proposal
to convene a Constituent Assembly of
Kashmir. As I have already said, Kashmir
is, at present, a unit of the Indian Federation
and has to be governed accordingly. When
we were drafting the Constitution of India,
we had to consider the various units of the
Indian Federation. It was decided that the
framing of the constitutions would be entrusted to a Constituent Assembly for the
unit concerned. Honorable members will
please note that the machinery of the Constituent Assembly was not devised only for
Kashmir, but for other similar units of the
Indian Federation as well. Provision was
made in the Indian Constitution for a Constituent Assembly for settling the details of
the Indian Constitution. Will that Assembly
decide the question of accession? My government’s view is that while the Constituent Assembly may, if it so desires,
express an opinion on this question, but it
can take no decision in it. Even in a Federation, every state has the right to make its
own constitution in its proper sphere and to
set-up a special body for that purpose. India
cannot, therefore, prevent Kashmir, which
at present is a unit of the Indian Federation,
from exercising a similar right, which, indeed, is expressly recognized in the Constitution of India. The Constituent
Assembly cannot be physically prevented
from expressing its opinion on this question, if it so chooses. But this opinion will
not bind my government or prejudice the
position of the Council” (29/ 3/ 51).
Another fact which needs mention is
that nearly one-third of the state’s area is
unrepresented in the Constituent Assembly. I think I should refer to the Delhi
Agreements. These Agreements were endorsed both by the Indian Parliament and
the state Constituent Assembly, and we are
committed to them. No doubt these Agreements are an attempt to define clearly the

position of the state in India in regard to
certain matters. Assuming that our Constitution would provide appropriate provision
with regard to these matters and that these
matters are clearly stated therein, the question is would we, thereby, succeed in finalizing accession, the basic relationship. If
this basic relationship itself is subject to
ratification and, therefore, provisional, the
character of the Delhi Agreements, which
flow from such relationship, must be temporary and interim and, hence, hardly contributing to a settlement of the state’s
future. So, the uncertainty continues, and
the people grind and suffer.
There is growing awareness among
the people of the state that a satisfactory
and lasting solution of the Kashmir problem is possible only if both India and Pakistan examine this problem from the
interest of the good of the people of the
state as a whole. The state of Jammu and
Kashmir is so situated geographically that
it depends for its economy on a free flow
of trade to both countries. For ages, Kashmiri arts and crafts have found markets in
India. At the same time, the rivers and
roads of Kashmir stretch into Pakistan,
while our only road to India remains
blocked for nearly three months a year.
Kashmir’s railhead used to be Rawalpindi
and the traders in the Valley would use
Karachi as the sea-port for overseas trade.
These circumstances lend overwhelming
weight to the aspirations of the people of
the state to secure the goodwill of both
India and Pakistan for their betterment
and prosperity. They aspire that somehow
the dispute should be settled in a manner
as to allow them opportunities for national development based on the IndoPak accord. The National Conference
organization opposes pro-merger sentiments of those cultural and ethnological
groups whose sympathies and loyalties
run outside their own state and the only
result of whose activities would be to destroy the basic structure of the state. I
know of occasions when I have tried to
satisfy the legitimate demands of Muslims or reassure their minds about the future, when my friends have condemned
me as a communalist and a turncoat. It
becomes necessary that I should satisfy
them to the same extent that a non-Mus-

lim is satisfied that his future hopes and
aspirations are safe in India. Unfortunately, apart from the disastrous effects
which the pro-merger agitation in Jammu
produced in Kashmir amidst the present
growing fears and dissatisfactions, the
Muslim middle class in Kashmir has been
greatly perturbed to see that while the
present relationship of the state with India
has opened new opportunities for their
Hindu and Sikh brother to ameliorate
their lot, they have been assigned the position of a frog in the well.
What the Muslim intelligentsia in
Kashmir is a definite and concrete stake in
India. So the minds of the people of Kashmir have moved from fear to frustration and
from frustration to near-disillusionment,
which I have tried to explain in my recent
speeches. While the National Conference
stands committed to the support it gave to
the Instrument of Accession and the Delhi
Agreements, the fact remains that the present situation of suspense has primarily to be
resolved: 1) Will public opinion in India,
more particularly overwhelming majorities
of the people of Jammu and Ladakh, accept
the present relationship based on the Instrument of Accession and Delhi Agreements
as final and not to be altered in due course
by coercion or otherwise; 2) Would such relationship not be subject to change because
of international factors; 3) Would all sections of the state’s people derive equal benefit from such a relationship, irrespective of
caste or creed? Would it be possible under
this relationship to overcome the difficulties
presented by geography or nature which
stand in the way of all-round economic
prosperity of the state?”
I confess that every time I read one of
his speeches or interviews, my eyes well
up, because history is a harsh judge!
Nyla Ali Khan is the author of Fiction
of Nationality in an Era of Transnationalism, Islam, Women, and Violence in
Kashmir, The Life of a Kashmiri Woman,
and the editor of The Parchment of Kashmir. She has also served as a guest editor
working on articles from the Jammu and
Kashmir region for Oxford University
Press (New York), helping to identify,
commission, and review articles. She can
be reached at nylakhan@aol.com.

MODI MUST END HIS SUPPORT OF ISLAMOPHOBIC, SEXIST TROLLS
THIS IS A DANGEROUS TIME TO BE A JOURNALIST, ACTIVIST,
WOMAN, MUSLIM OR MEMBER OF A MINORITY IN INDIA
Huffington Post
Swati Chaturvedi

Trolls are the goons of the online world. This story
played out live during the recent U.S. presidential
election, when Donald Trump supporters went on a
rampage against Hillary Clinton and journalists who
had anything critical to say about the president-elect.
But in India, some similar trolls are actually paid by
the prime minister’s own party.
The Bharatiya Janata Party – the ruling Hindu
nationalist party that Prime Minister Narendra Modi
belongs to – uses an online army of workers and volunteers, along with sophisticated social media bots,
to attack anyone who criticizes the government, and
to disseminate false images and facts to heighten
communal tension.
These online trolls spout right-wing, nationalist,
Islamophobic views. Some have very large social
media followings. The BJP’s network of trolls is
scattered across the country as well as in the party
headquarters on Delhi’s Ashoka Road. Each troll has
a contact point in the Ashoka Road central cell who
sends them daily instructions via WhatsApp. For my
recent book on the topic, I spoke to a number of these
trolls working for Modi’s party – some of whom had
attacked me online.
No current trolls were willing to come on record
but a portrait emerged of a typical one. He is male,

usually in his 30s, often with anxieties and bitterness
about his lack of opportunities. Some believe the lies
they peddle and are staunchly anti-Muslim, chauvinistic and resentful of liberal, elite, English-speaking
journalists. Some are more pragmatic, treating it as
a job like any other.
Then I met Sadhavi Khosla. Khosla, an attractive
bright woman in her 30s, had lived for a number of
years in the U.S. and had her own business in Gurugram. She was a passionate Modi supporter and had
enthusiastically agreed to be an unpaid volunteer on
social media during the 2014 national elections, even
putting her own business on hold.
Within a year, her zeal had changed to disenchantment. She was dismayed by the daily messages
against the Gandhi family and prominent journalists.
She finally cracked when she was ordered to threaten
e-commerce company Snapdeal into dropping its
brand ambassador, the Bollywood star Aamir Khan.
Khan had made headlines earlier when he made a
statement that was seen as critical of the government.
Snapdeal did drop Khan.
The Bollywood star had been an icon for Sadhavi, as he is for countless Indians. Being forced to
attack him was the final straw, and Sadhavi soon
quit. She is still distraught by her actions and terrified
of Modi’s party, regularly tearful in our interviews.
And yet, she had the courage and the tenacity to stay
the course with me, even as I pushed her time and

time again to agree to being on tape and to officially
sign off on her testimony to please the lawyers.
The BJP’s trolls are mostly anonymous, though
some aren’t. They often have Hindu gods as their
Twitter display pictures ― or pictures of beautiful
women to increase their Twitter following. Those
with real identities tend to lead the charge, and as
soon as they abuse you, a swarm of anonymous trolls
follow in their wake, either repeating the original
abuse or adding more to it.
Take the case of dentist Pankaj Narang, who
was brutally killed by an angry mob in Delhi in
2016. A Twitter user under the name @bhak_sala –
with 77.9k followers, including Modi – tweeted that
the doctor was murdered by Muslims and that the
media was covering it up. An Islamophobic Twitter
storm ensued. Before real riots might have broken
out, the Delhi police issued a quick clarification that
this was an outright lie. But they did not take action
toward the man behind the incitement, who I
tracked down. His name is Rahul Raj, and he is a
manager based in Bangalore with the pharmaceutical company Novartis. He runs a right-wing propaganda website called Opindia.
Then there’s the notorious abuser @MahaveerM_, who says in his Twitter bio that he is
“Blessed 2 Be Followed by PM @NarendraModi.”
He was suspended by Twitter in late 2016 until government ministers campaigned to overturn his suspension. In fact, Modi follows two accounts that
have been suspended by Twitter for vile abuse.
The more high-profile the victims are, the
worse the abuse gets, with women bearing the
brunt. The anonymous swarm often sends rape
threats and other sexually explicit messages, such

as images of pubic hair, to women with vulgar messages attached to it. Well-known Indian TV journalists, such as BarkhaDutt and RajdeepSardesai,
are among some of the most targeted in this country. I, too, am a victim. Our mobile numbers are
shared on WhatsApp to get more feral trolls to join
in the blood sport. Slurs such as “sickularpresstitute” are now par for the course.
In response, the trolls have given my book special attention. They downgraded it on Amazon and
have been viciously attacking the book and me on
Twitter. Arvind Gupta, the BJP’s IT and technology
head and the party’s former head of social media,
called my book “lies and fiction.’’ Yet hearteningly,
the book has received support from countless Indian
senior journalists and politicians from other parties,
many of whom are all too familiar with this abuse.
This is a dangerous time to be a journalist, activist, woman or member of a minority in India. Journalists are expected to be cheerleaders or
megaphones for the government, and when they ask
questions, they are often abused as “presstitutes” or
told to “Go to Pakistan.” Modi has referred to the
media as “Bazaru” (sellable) and has shown his contempt for the fourth estate time and time again.
But it’s not possible to have democracy without
the media. It’s time for the leader of the world’s
largest democracy to stop following and facilitating
trolls. Lies and violent words can have deadly consequences in the real world. A political party that peddles such dangerous vitriol must be held accountable.
Swati Chaturvedi is a New Delhi-based
journalist and author of “I Am a Troll: Inside the
Secret World of the BJP’s Digital Army.”

Thursday, 12 January, 2017

ARTS

13

Bollywood celeBs Back streep,
sonam calls trump ‘joker’
B

oLLYwooD celebrities
like Priyanka Chopra and
Sonam Kapoor hailed
Meryl Streep for taking on
the US President-elect after
Donald Trump called her an “overrated actress”. Sonam also dubbed
Trump a “joker”.
Streep, honoured at the 74th
Golden Globe Awards on Sunday
night, slammed Trump in her acceptance speech. She spoke of how upsetting it was when he imitated a disabled
reporter during a speech in 2015.
Trump hit back, much to the dismay of artistes from across the
world as Streep is one of the most
respected actors.
Having won the oscar thrice,

Streep has been nominated over a
dozen times for the Academy Award.
She is best known for roles in films
likeMamma Mia!, The Devil wears
Prada, Silkwood and It’s Complicated.
Priyanka, who was at the Golden
Globes, tweeted a photograph in which
she is seen posing warmly with Streep.
She captioned it: “Quoting my favourite
Meryl Streep from last night. when you
have a broken heart… turn it into art.
You are astounding! Fan girl.”
Meanwhile, Sonam, known for her
strong opinions, called Trump a
“joker”, while actress Swara Bhaskar
described Streep as a “brilliant
woman” and Trump a loser.
“okay, India isn’t in such a bad
way… This person is a joker… at least

our leader has a semblance of intelligence,” Sonam tweeted.
Swara wrote: “Let me complete
that! She is a … brilliant woman of
great courage and integrity… Qualities
you lack utterly and will never acquire!
Loser Trump.”
while singer-composer Vishal
Dadlani praised Streep for being frank,
he spoke of dual standards in the Indian film industry.
“we have some of the biggest stars
on earth and all of them have been
beaten down for speaking up. Streep has
freedom. we have a mirage. we say our
stars don’t speak up, but then again, we
chose not to stand for those who were
victimised for speaking their minds. So,
Shh,” Dadlani wrote. AGENCIES

FAIZA S KHAN
Pity the nation more scandalised
by Trump’s sex life than his bigotry,
his callousness, his animosity
towards all forms of decency.

Mahira Khan is all set to promote her upcoming movie with Shah Rukh Khan Raees by giving interviews from Pakistan via Skype.
As relations between both India and Pakistan soured, the Raj Thackeray-led MNS
threatened Pakistani artists to leave India and
urged the Indian film industry to boycott artists
from the neighbouring country. As a result,
Fawad Khan could not promote his film Ae Dil
Hai Mushkil in India and had to leave for Pakistan. Same was the case with Mahira, who
could not promote the flick with SRK and had
to leave for Pakistan.
However, according to sources, Mahira
will be promoting Raees in India but from Pakistan and that too, via Skype. Rumours are rife
that the actress will be giving interviews
through Skype. So far, Shah Rukh Khan is promoting the movie solely in India due to
Mahira’s absence.
Since the movie is about to be released in
India after two weeks, Mahira Khan is also promoting it extensively on social media. The actress shared her song Zaalima’s video from her

ENTERTAINMENT DESK

Twitter account a couple of days ago.
Ever since it was released last week, Zaalima has garnered over 25 million views and has
been appreciated by critics and fans alike. The
chemistry of both artists has caught the eye of
many in India as well as Pakistan. Raees is set
to hit theatres on January 25th, 2017.

Jamie Foxx attacked, kicked out of restaurant

SYED TALAT HUSSAIN
Now that Shaikh Rashid hs
started to reflect on complex legal
matters, we might as well
formally bury serious
jurisprudence in this country.

AHMER NAQVI
A bit bored by how often people
tweet about being anti-social
while their replies have them
making plans every other day.
Stop fkn posing.

Actor Jamie Foxx was assaulted while having dinner at a restaurant
when a patron approached his table and complained to him and his
friends about being too loud. They were later thrown out of the
restaurant. The incident took place at Catch Restaurant here on
January 7, reports TMZ.com. “You don’t want to mess with me.
I’m from New York,” the person reportedly yelled. A comedian
who came with Foxx retorted with harsh words. That further
angered the complaining person before he came charging at Foxx.
Some witnesses said that Foxx fought back, put the random person
in a choke hold and took him down. Both parties were eventually
thrown out of the restaurant for the ruckus. Several celebrities
including Jerry Bruckheimer, Cuba Gooding Jr, Michael Bay and
Nicole Murphy witnessed the commotion. AGENCIES

WORLD REMEMBERS BOWIE ONE YEAR AFTER DEATH
Bearing flowers, lipstick and glitter,
fans around the world Tuesday paid
tribute to rock icon David Bowie a
year after his shocking death.
Bouquets of flowers appeared
once again outside the New York
apartment where Bowie spent his final
years, recreating the festive and communal scene that emerged after he
passed away on January 10, 2016.
Sabrina Rosneck, a student from
Detroit who came to New York for a
Bowie anniversary concert, slipped a
letter into the makeshift memorial outside The Starman’s Soho home.
“I leave him a card whenever I
come to New York. I feel like he sort of
understands people and he kind of understood me even though he didn’t
know me, so I just want to update him
on my life and how it’s going,” she said.

Like many fans, Rosneck credited
Bowie — who constantly reinvented
himself in a half-century career that
spanned from glam rock to electronica
to disco — with helping people accept
themselves.
Aurelio Ayala III, who flew to New

kjo criticised over
his ‘homosexuality’
remarks

York from Seattle, said that discovering
Bowie transformed his youth in Texas,
where he dyed his hair orange in the
rocker’s honour and didn’t look back.
“He allowed me to express myself
the way I wanted,” the 56-year-old
said on the sidewalk outside Bowie’s

CMYK

apartment, between the building’s
dumpster and slushy snow. “Living in
Texas you are looked upon if you’re a
little different. I never really cared —
and to this day, I don’t care.”
- Tribute concerts around the world Bowie died from an undisclosed
battle with cancer two days after releasing his last album, “Blackstar,” a
work of hard-driving jazz that won
glowing reviews.
Columbia Records on Sunday released three additional tracks from the
“Blackstar” sessions in a digital EP to
celebrate what would have been
Bowie’s 70th birthday.
Bowie’s veteran producer Tony
Visconti, one of the few people to
whom the rocker had confided his illness, said he has “been through every
stage of grief in the past 365 days.”

Bollywood Director Karan
Johar has been rapped
by the LGBTQ
community over his
‘homosexuality’
remarks in the
recently-released
book An Unsuitable
Boy, Pinkvilla reported.
“If an uneducated person
in a remote Indian village comes
and tells me that they are scared of coming out,
I’d take it, but this coming from somebody with
a stature as big as Karan’s, I feel let down. He
should be coming out as an empowered and
powerful individual, and actually, make a
difference for those helpless people living in
villages. People who were earlier considering
coming out will now sit and think twice, worried
that a FIR might be involved — but this is
baseless. You won’t be arrested for coming out,”
LGBTQ activist Pallav Patankar said. Earlier,
the filmmaker also talked about rumours
surrounding his sexuality and bashed people for
embarrassing him with their regressive approach
towards homosexuality. He went on to say that
he would never come out due to India’s justice
system. Karan has also spoken about how
struggling with his sexual orientation had left
him depressed. “when you are 44 and lonely
and are not in a relationship, it gets you worried.
Because all the success that you’ve achieved
means nothing if you cannot take it to someone
else,” he had said.

we need to keep
dialogue around
feminism going:
kalki koechlin
Actor Kalki Koechlin
feels it is great to have
a conversation about
equality in the
industry and says it
is important to keep
the discussion going.
Kalki also said that it
doesn’t matter if the
term ‘feminism’ is only
being used since it is in fashion, as long as the
discussion is on. “It is great that it (feminism
seeping into the industry) is coming in
conversation. I think it is our job, and we need
to keep that dialogue going and not just let it be
a phase or fashion,” she said. The actor, who
has films like Dev.D, Shaitan, Shanghai and
Margarita with a Straw to her credit, added,
“Feminism is definitely coming into forefront
because the workforce is with women.” “It is a
new thing…There are a lot of questions around
it but all these questions are great.” on the big
screen, Kalki will be seen in Candyflip, Jia Aur
Jia and A Death in the Gunj. AGENCIES

14 LEISURE

Thursday, 12 January, 2017

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

An urgent issue
continues to
overshadow your day, and you
may feel as if you can't put
off addressing it any longer.
But be careful about taking
the quick and easy way out;
whatever you do, don't stop..

It seems as if the
hand of fate is in
control of your
interpersonal interactions today.
Something odd is happening
and you can't put your finger on
it. The more you try to
remember the specific issues.

A lighthearted
conversation could
get sticky today, especially if
everyone tries to cling to their
positions without being open to
negotiation. Even a discussion
that appears to be heading
somewhere productive.

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

You can appear
even-tempered
today, even if your moods are
more extreme. A minor power
struggle at home could generate
an emotional tidal wave, yet you
might not let on how much the
stress is affecting.

It's all too easy to
just acquiesce and
go along with someone else's
agenda today even if you're
aware of the imperfections in
their plans. You're more
accommodating now and are
willing to make allowances.

You believe
that a
straightforward
approach to your chores is the
most productive route today,
but your intensity might be
bothersome to those around
you. You're quick to turn a
complex set of tasks into.

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

You might sound
more easygoing
than you actually feel today.
Someone may even think you're
so ambivalent that you can't
make a simple choice on your
own. However, the gracious
Libra Moon gives you the.

A window of
opportunity appears to be
shutting today, yet you
are not quite ready to make a
leap of faith. Although you are
usually capable of asserting
your will when necessary,
you're reticent to express.

Alternating waves of
uncertainty and
confidence finally give way to
calmer waters today. Luckily,
your feelings are bolstered by
your friends and family.
Instead of struggling to justify
your choices,

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

You are cool-headed
today, possessing
the strategic objectivity of a
master chess player. Your skills
are highly marketable, which is
useful when pursuing your
ambitions. In fact, you have an
excellent..

It's as if you are lifted
high above the chimney tops
and humdrum worries of the
mundane world as your
imagination soars to new
heights. But you may be
hesitant to relinquish your
earthy subjectivity because.

Relationship
dynamics
continue to shift, making it nearly
impossible to figure out where
you will land. On one hand, your
dreams are more colorful and
vibrant, putting you directly in
touch with the supernatural.

How to play
fill in all the squares in the grid so that each row, column and each of
the squares contains all the digits. The object is to insert the numbers
in the boxes to satisfy only one condition: each row, column and 3x3
box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once.

Thursday, 12 January, 2017

PAkIstAn told to exPeCt
'sCARy' totAls FRom
AustRAlIA In odI seRIes
A

SPORTS DESK

USTRALIAN middle-order batsman Travis
Head believes if his team can create a good
platform at the start of the innings in the upcoming ODIs against Pakistan then they
can score ‘scary’ totals.
Pakistan, who were recently whitewashed in
the three-match Test series, will be taking on the
hosts in a five-match 50-over series starting from
Friday in Brisbane.
Captain Steven Smith will also have the services
of big-hitting Chris Lynn, whom Head thinks can be
lethal in the middle order.
“I think it’s scary now what you can get in the last
20 overs of an ODI if you set a great platform, which
is what we’ve done against New Zealand,” said Head
as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“We were able to set good platforms and give 25
overs to playing like T20. Yeah, it definitely brings in
guys into it, a lot more than [before]. Lynny’s batting
fantastic, yeah, he can clear the fence with ease, and
so, if we build a good platform and if he’s in that middle order, it’s scary what we can get,” he added.
No Irfan, Sarfraz for Pakistan
Pakistan, on the other hand, will be without their
regular wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed as well
as towering left-arm pacer Mohammad Irfan.
Irfan, brought back into the squad against Australia,

had to leave for Pakistan after the demise of his mother.
Sarfaraz also had to rush back home after his
mother fell sick.

Irfan was replaced with another left-arm pacer Junaid Khan, while Mohammad Rizwan will cover for
Sarfaraz by keeping the wickets in the first ODI.

Amla to achieve 100 Test caps
SPORTS DESK
Hashim Amla is set to join an elite
group of South African cricketers
when he makes his 100th Test appearance in the third and final match
of the series against Sri Lanka in Johannesburg starting on Thursday.
The elegant right-hander has
been battling poor form in recent
months but his influence on the side
remains unquestioned as he becomes the eighth player from South
Africa to notch up a century of Test
caps. One of the coolest customers
in cricket and a hugely popular figure in the dressing room, Amla has
established himself in the pantheon

of modern South African greats,
equally as influential as the likes of
Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith and
AB de Villiers.
His recent dip in form, leading
him to score just 195 runs in his
last five Tests, has dropped his average below 50, including 311 not
out against England in 2012, he
has been a key part of the team´s
success in the last decade.
“He has a wonderful sense of
calm,” South African opener
Stephen Cook, who played with
Amla in the national under-19 side,
told reporters. “When a situation
becomes tricky or some of the players become a bit hot-headed,

Rs 30 mln grant
approved for
boxer Waseem
ISLAMABAD

Hashim will be the guy who´ll
bring balance back. “He contributes
so much, he starts with 30 runs before he even comes in to bat.”
The 12 years since Amla made
his Test debut have not been without challenges, his technique was
questioned early on after a faltering
start to his Test career, while 12
months ago he resigned as captain
after a home series loss to England.
A devout Muslim, he has also
had to endure racial and religious
slurs, and was infamously called
“the terrorist” live on air by Australian cricketer-turned-commentator Dean Jones during a Test
against Sri Lanka in 2006.It was a
slur repeated by a fan in Hobart
during the Australia series last November, but none of these incidents have managed to ruffle the
man dubbed the ´Silent Warrior´
by his South African team mates.
“He´s a fantastic person. You
can look up the stats and read all
the records but that only tells half
of the tale,” Cook added.
“The person behind the batsman is more important to me. I
was taught you´re a human being
first and then a cricketer. Hashim
epitomises that.”

The hopes of West Indies’ visit to Pakistan
are still alive despite the report issued by
Federation of International Cricketers’
Associations (FICA) in which foreign
players have been warned not to visit
Pakistan. The President of the Trinidad and
Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) Azim
Bassarath has said that the team may visit
Pakistan if security is guaranteed by Pakistan
Cricket Board (PCB). However, the ultimate
decision will be taken by the West Indies
Cricket Board officials who will come to
Pakistan to check the security situation. Azim
Bassarath said, “In my opinion, because the
Pakistan Cricket Board can guarantee the
security of the players and officials, we may
still have cricket there.” “This is a very
sensitive issue and we have a team going
across there to look at the situation for us,”
said Bassarath. “Our operations manager
Roland Holder and head of security Paul
Slowe will most likely be on that team and
would report back to us. “Despite the
concerns cited by FICA, we will depend on
what our team tells us,” he added. Pakistan
are hoping to host two Twenty20
internationals versus the West Indies at
Gaddafi Stadium Lahore. Earlier, PCB said
that FICA had done great disservice to the
cause of cricket in general and Pakistan
cricket in particular by advising overseas
players not to play in the Pakistan Super
League (PSL) Final in Lahore next March
because of “security reasons.” FICA cited
unnamed “expert security consultants” for
“updated security advice” that claimed
Pakistan is “at an extremely elevated state of
insecurity.” A PCB spokesman said in a
statement afterwards that it was a careless
and cavalier approach to an issue of great
importance. FICA, he said, “sits thousands of
miles away from Pakistan and cannot name
even one credible security expert, yet makes
a sweeping negative statement about the
security situation in Lahore.” The FICA’s
claim that “westerners and luxury hotels have
been attacked” was contrary to the facts on
the ground that proved that not a single
foreigner or hotel had been attacked in
Lahore in the last five years, the spokesman
added. “FICA’s claim that ‘targeted attacks’
are predicted to continue is belied by the fact
that Lahore is the showpiece of the
government that has secured the services of
UK-based ‘Safe City’ security project,” he
said. The PCB, he said, had recently hosted
Kenya, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh (Women),
Afghanistan and Malaysian national cricket
teams in Lahore and Karachi without any
problem. In the case of PSL Final in Lahore
for one day, he added, the government had
guaranteed protection by over 3000 army and
police personnel in the city.

APP

The government has approved the Rs 30
million grant announced by the Prime Minister
for World Silver Flyweight Champion
Muhammad Waseem, an official in the
Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination
(IPC) said Wednesday. However, the payment
procedure is yet to be decided that it whether it
would be given in installments or wholesome,
he told APP. It may be mentioned here that the
grant approved would be utilised in trainings
and tours of the boxer. The federal government
has also assured to support the player with every
possible facility. Waseem had successfully
defended his World Boxing Council (WBC)
silver flyweight title after defeating Giemel
Megramo of the Philippines in November last
year. Waseem has so far proved to be
unbeatable. Meanwhile, Waseem said he wants
to continue his winning streak in future for
Pakistan. "I am looking for more wins in future
and to bring more laurels for my country. I just
need proper support," he remarked.

PCB RECEIVES HEAD COACH’S REPORT
SPORTS DESK
Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur, in his official report sent to the Pakistan Cricket Board
(PCB), has held the bowlers more responsible for
Pakistan’s pathetic performance during Test series whitewash against Australia.
PCB chairman Shaharyar M. Khan told reporters here that Arthur considered bowlers were
chiefly responsible for the abject surrender as
they did not bowl according to line and length
and conceded too many runs in claiming wickets
which allowed the Australians to score freely.
Shaharyar said the report would be discussed
in detail and after the tour concludes, while
adding the second Pakistan Super League this
year further step would be taken to revamp Pak-

istan cricket.
The performance of the national team was
pathetic in Australia and even great Australian
former captain Ian Chappell passed very negative remarks about Pakistan cricket and also advised the Cricket Australia to think twice before
inviting Pakistan for a series Down Under.
The PCB chairman, however, refused to
comment on Chappell’s diatribe.
However, Pakistani cricket circles mainly
believe that Chappell may had refrained from
making adverse comments had Mickey Arthur
would not have been coaching Pakistan. Arthur’s
relation with Cricket Australia was soured when
he was sacked from the job as Australia’s head
coach in June 2013, just three weeks before the
start of the Ashes series in England.

CMYK

SPORTS
Thursday, 12 January, 2017

PAkistAn in dAnger of
not directly quAlifying
for World cuP 2019

Misbah clarifies
comment regarding
1999’s Pakistan team
Pakistan Test captain Misbahul Haq explained his previous comment regarding the national side which
toured Australia in 1999. After the loss in Sydney Test,
the 42-year-old was asked if he considered the current
side was the best team which toured Australia. In response, Misbah said that Pakistan’s 1999 team was the
best one. However, he faced criticism over his remark
given that side also met with a 3-0 whitewash in the
Test series. Clarifying his position, Misbah took to
Twitter and said that he did not intend to malign his
seniors nor was he trying to use it as an excuse for Pakistan’s recent defeat. He added that he has the utmost
respect for his predecessors, especially fast bowling
legend Wasim Akram who skippered the 1999 tour.
Pakistan lost the recently concluded Test series against
Australia 3-0 and are scheduled to play five-match ODI
series which begins on Friday in Brisbane. SPORTS DESK

P

SPORTS DESK

AKISTAN is in serious
danger of failing to qualify
directly for the International Cricket Council’s
(ICC) World Cup 2019 in
the United Kingdom as it currently
sits at eighth position in the One Day
International Team Rankings.
Pakistan is at eighth position
with 89 points, two behind
Bangladesh and two ahead of the
West Indies, said an ICC press
release.
A former world champion, Pakistan has sets its sights on direct
qualification for the World Cup 2019
as it takes on the in-form reigning
world champion and number-one

ranked Australia in a five-ODI series
starting in Brisbane on Friday.
To at least maintain its pre-series
ranking points, Pakistan needs to
win one match of the series, while
victories in more than one match will
earn it crucial points.
If Pakistan wins two matches,
then it will join Bangladesh on 91
points but will be ranked behind its
Asian rivals by a fraction.
In the scenario of Pakistan winning the series, it will move ahead of
Bangladesh and, as such, will enhance its chances of qualifying directly for the event it won in
Australia in 1992.
On the flipside, Australia will retain its pre- series points if it wins the
series 4-1, while it will concede one

Basit Ali likely to be
reinstated as chief
of junior selection
committee

point if it wins 3-2. Australia can fall
from the top pedestal but to make it
happen, Pakistan will have to win by
4-1 or better.
However, considering that Australia leads Pakistan 33-16 on a
head-to-head in its backyard, including 15 wins in 19 ODIs this decade,
this looks highly improbable.
The ODI team rankings, unlike
the Test rankings, are updated after
each match and the ODI predictor
function is available here.
Host England and the seven
highest-ranked sides on the MRF
Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings as
on 30 September 2017 will qualify
directly for the event proper to be
held from May 30 to July 15, 2019.
The four bottom-ranked sides

Asia deserves more World Cup
slots, says AFC president

SPORTS DESK
Former Test batsman Basit Ali is likely to
be reinstated as the chief of the junior selection committee and an announcement
will be made soon by the Pakistan Cricket
Board (PCB). Earlier this week, Basit was
relieved by the board from his duties as
chief of the junior selection committee
and head coach of national women’s team
following a spat with former international
cricketer Mahmood Hamid at the National
Stadium in Karachi. “It has been decided
that Basit will lead the junior selection
committee alongside Amir Nazir and Farrukh Zaman,” a PCB official told a local
publication. Both Basit and Zaman have
previously served in the junior selection
committee. While the former played 19
Tests between 1993 and 1995 for Pakistan, the latter only represented the national side in one Test in 1976. The
coaching panel of U19 team will also be
announced along with the selection committee, which includes head coach Mansoor Rana, assistant Abdul Rehman, and
manager Nadeem Khan. According to
media reports, Basit had slapped Mahmood after a heated argument at the National Stadium exacerbating the situation.
Subsequently, PCB chairman Shaharyar
Khan relieved Basit from his duties in regard to the women’s team and junior
teams on January 2.

will be joined by six teams from
the ICC World Cricket League in
the 10-team ICC Cricket World
Cup Qualifier 2018 and the top
two sides will complete the 10team World Cup line-up.
Meanwhile, third-ranked India
takes on fifth-ranked England in a
three-ODI series starting in Pune on
Sunday, January 15. While India will
be aiming to narrow the gap with
second-ranked South Africa, England will be targeting an upward
movement.
India can rise to as high as
114 points if it sweeps the series,
but if the series result is reversed, then England can move
up one place to fourth and India
can slide to fifth.

KUALA LAMPUR
AGENCIES

Asia’s football chief believes the region “deserves more slots” in the World Cup after FIFA’s
latest decision to expand the tournament to 48
teams from 2026.
President of Asian Football Confederation
(AFC) Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa
said continent’s size and economic might merited
more than its current allocation of four guaranteed spots, which is expected to rise to eight.
Chinese state media said the move could help
realise the country’s “dream” of returning to the
World Cup, while New Zealand, which looks set
to be a key beneficiary, called the move a ‘fan-

tastic news’. Many critics have rounded on the
decision, complaining it will dilute the quality of
the World Cup and saying it was driven by
hunger for profits and political gain.
But Sheikh Salman said it would have a “positive impact on Asian football. We believe that
Asia, as the biggest continent, deserves more
slots compared with the current quota,” he said.
“Looking at the economic power it has, and the
popularity for the game in Asia, [the decision will
help] in addition to the huge development for
football at all levels.” Sheikh Salman is the vicepresident of the FIFA Council, which on Tuesday
approved the move to increase the number of
World Cup competitors from 32 to 48 teams, the
biggest rise in its history.
The expansion was a key election promise of
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who beat
Sheikh Salman to the post in polls earlier last
year. A confidential FIFA report seen by AFP
forecasts a 48-team tournament would bring a
cash boost of $640 million above projected revenues for next year’s edition in Russia.
Asian countries have largely failed to make
an impact at the World Cup, which is dominated
by European and South American teams, although co-hosts South Korea reached the semifinals in 2002. In China, who are 82nd in the
FIFA rankings but have set their sights on becoming a global football power, the official Xinhua
news agency said FIFA’s move represented a big
opportunity.
“Even if the levels of skill and strategy in the
Chinese men’s football do not grow in leaps and
bounds by 2026, the initial objectives of

Bowling spearhead Trent Boult could return as the sole
change for New Zealand in the first Test against
Bangladesh in Wellington on Thursday. Coming off
back-to-back Test victories over Pakistan and a 3-0 triumphs in both ODI and T20I series against
Bangladesh, New Zealand are looking for a clean
sweep of the tourists as they build towards the arrival
of South Africa in March. “We haven’t confirmed it
yet, but it’s hard to see too many changes from our last
Test,” said captain Kane Williamson on the eve of the
Test, adding that Boult was getting back to his best
form. The left-arm fast-bowler missed the second Test
against Pakistan because of a knee injury but showed
he had regained his express pace with deliveries in excess of 145 kilometres per hour in the final T20I
against Bangladesh in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.
“Trent in the last T20I might have hit 145, 146 [km/h]
which is really promising,” said Williamson with
Wellington’s Basin Reserve offering a green wicket
and blustery conditions. “We know when he’s bowling
fast and swinging it for a long time he’s one of the best
bowlers in the world. We’ll be hoping for more of that
going into a lot of Test matches.” With a schedule that
demands frequent transition between formats, and with
a one-day series against Australia to follow the two
Bangladesh Tests, Williamson is keen for his bowlers
to adjust quickly to Test conditions. “The South
African series is around the corner but we’ve got two
tough Test matches before then. We want to see improvements again, so that’s certainly the focus going
into the first Test match tomorrow, make those adjustments against a strong Bangladesh side,” he said. With
the Basin wicket offering pace and bounce on the
opening day, Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim is
looking for his batsmen to prove themselves in unfamiliar conditions, something they were unable to do in
the limited-over matches. “Our main challenge will be
for the batsmen to set up the Test match for the
bowlers. We have to put up a good enough total for the
bowlers to defend,” said Rahim.